Sunday, May 28, 2006

For Whom the Bell Tolls...

One of my favorite things about summer.. (ok, so it's not summer yet.. but bare with me) is that unlike winter, it stays lighter longer. Like, way longer.

One of the things I hate most about winter, is that it gets dark so early. When it's dark less than an hour after I get home from school... by 6:30 I'm ready for bed. It's depressing. I don't know how people in places like Alaska do it. I admire their perseverance. I would not last one single day.

As winter winds down, I get excited with each new "milestone" time that it's still light out. "Ohhhhhhhh look, it's 4:45 and it's not dark yet!" or "Hey.. look.. it's 5:30 and I can still see down the street!" My brother and his mother in law started having a party each time they hit another hour on the "sunset is at: xx:xx" watch. I think they might be on to something.


It never gets to be 9:00 however. Once we hit 8:30 as "official sunset".. we start to go backwards. It might be light later than 8:30.. but the sunsets none the less. I remember being a kid and being so slighted that I had to go to bed and it was still light out. I try to remember that when my kids want to stay up later during the summer. I don't always bend, especially when school is still in session, but I might be persuaded once in a while.

In the meantime, my inner "winter hating, suffering from seasonal affect disorder" self thrives in this extended daylight. At this same time in February, I would've been fast asleep on the couch. Yet here I sit, after a long day of weeding and gardening and car washing.. and I'm wide awake. I wish I could bottle my summer spunk, and pull it out when I feel winter's depression nipping at my soul.

2 comments:

@wesome@bby said...

This picture is yet another reason why I want to come and visit, if not live, in your town. I'll have to pay attention and see if the sun ever sets here in TN past 8:30. You've got my curious!

onescrappychick said...

did I mention that is the view out my window? I live next to the town hall.