I wonder what it’s like to wake up early, make myself a cup of coffee, and read at a stranger’s round kitchen table. In the breakfast nook, a wide floor-length window gives a view of the busy street. The front yard hasn’t been mowed yet and blades of grass collect specks of this morning’s condensation. It’s an old house, built in the 1920s, with white stucco and Spanish roofing. A large enough living room, combined with the dining table and kitchen nook, takes up most of its square footage. The hallway of a kitchen is on the far right.

The kitchen table is solid, not the flimsy kind that you find at furniture warehouse stores. Its central leg has curled edges towards the bottom, similar to a clawfoot bathtub. It’s a lion of a table, heavy enough to make a dent in the natural hardwood floors if lowered unexpectedly by the mover who was losing grip from one side.

The chairs are just as heavy and cushioned with a beige linen fabric that matches the crocheted doily covering the center of the table. A frosted white vase sits off-center, waiting for fresh flowers. They seem to have flowers throughout the house; in the bathroom, on the low coffee table, near the kitchen sink, on a windowsill, near the five-shelf bookcase. And plants too, in most cases right near the flowers.

The colors of the flowers and plants mirror the living room rug that is woven of multi-colored fabric. It is held together by a twine-looking string interlaced throughout. The rug is just the right size, encompassing the floor where the sofa and two velvet accent chairs stand. It’s soft to stand on compared to the scratched hardwood floors found throughout the house.

I wonder what it would feel like to wake up in a house like this. To walk over to the quiet kitchen, fill the grimey percolator with coffee, and look out the window waiting for it to brew. I wonder if sitting at the round kitchen table with a book from the bookcase and coffee in hand would be any different from what I already have. I don’t have a house built in the 1920s nor do I have grass on my front lawn. But I do have plants and flowers, coffee and books, a table and chairs with a large window facing north.

All I have to do is wake up early.