The Crease of Dawn

Recently I have had the pleasure to work on a number of very interesting consulting assignments. These assignments have ranged from working on new product launches, sales force redesign, strategic planning, board communications, team meeting facilitation, and executive coaching. One executive coaching project recently took me to work with a client based in Melbourne, Florida. Now I don't know about you, but I had never been to Melbourne until recently. The city is on the east coast of Florida, very near to Cape Canaveral. Upon arriving at the airport (MLB), you are greeted by a sign that welcomes you to the "Space Coast" of Florida.

On my last visit, the schedule called for me to stay overnight and I asked my client for a hotel recommendation. He gave me a few ideas but somewhat offhandedly suggested that since I was from Atlanta and rarely saw the ocean, maybe I might like to stay on the beach. It just so happened that his company had a great rate at a beachfront hotel so very quickly, reservations were made. That day was a busy one, full of discussions and content reviews , that merged pretty seamlessly into a dinner with my client. I want to highly recommend the restaurant, The Yellow Dog Cafe on the Indian River, and the deck is a perfect spot to unwind and work on the problems of the Universe! With that said, I was dropped off that night at around 10 pm at the above mentioned hotel.

After traveling extensively for my work over the past 20+ years, a late night hotel arrival is no new territory. Upon checking into my room, I set my blackberry alarm, plugged in my computer, turned on ESPN, and proceeded to crash for the night. The 5:30 am alarm came and brought me back to life. After a few groggy thoughts wondering what hotel I might be in, I arose to start the little in-room coffee maker. It was at this sleepy moment that I almost made an unfortunate error. Thinking that I had a few hours before I needed to catch the airport shuttle, I began to sit at my computer and begin working on a summary of my past day's work. It was after the second sip of the unassuming in-room coffee that I started to put together a simple logic stream of:

1.) It's before Dawn...... 2.) East Coast of Florida......3.) Beachfront Hotel......

I started to think that if I got my act together, threw on shorts and a t-shirt and got outside, I might be able to watch the sunrise. Leaving my computer idle, I donned my togs and made my way to the beach. Unbelievably, the sky had started to lighten with shades of turquoise, and yellow but as of yet the sun was still well below the horizon. I started to walk up the beach, mostly accompanied my pelicans fishing and sandpipers chasing the waves. Everything was very quiet and still and after 15 minutes or so, I stopped to sit in the sand and watch the "lightshow"! The sky was perfectly clear at the horizon and it was unbelievable to watch the first glint of the sun break the horizon's plane... "the crease of dawn." The awe and beauty of the moment was breathtaking and I sat on that spot in the sand for 20 minutes or so until the entire orb of the sun had entered our skies.

As I walked back to the hotel, completely in the "afterglow show", I was blown away by how close I came to missing an amazingly beautiful moment. How easy it would have been for me to pour that second cup of adequate coffee, work on the computer for an hour or so, and miss the entire experience. How many times have we all "stayed in the room" and missed the amazing experience just outside our doors? My lesson from that recent morning in Florida is to slow down the "normal routine" long enough to look around, remember that life is fleeting, and think if we might be able to see the "crease of dawn" or it's equivalent, just outside our doors.