Let It Glow

Forget snow. I mean, yeah, a little accumulation of fluff would be preferable to today's icy rain, if that were the only choice. But at this time of year, I'm always desperate for light.

Some of it is practical. It's not that safe to let my eight-year-old walk to the bus stop in the dimness before sunset (on the rare days I'm not with her--and even when I am, I'm wearing my black leather coat, hardly a safety feature).

There's also the litter thing. My living room has well-placed lamps ideal for reading or visiting, but it totally sucks for cleaning the kitty litter that gets scattered on the floor. In the morning, by the time I get to it, it's light enough that I open the front door and get a perfect illumination of every grain of clay. But it gets dark around five, which is too early for the post-dinner box usage. So when I clean up, I can't see anything. It's very frustrating.

Some of it is mental. In the winter, come 6:00 I'm ready to shut everything down. It's night time! That's not work time! It explains why I seem to do so much more reading in January than any other time, and why I don't balk at working at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. as easily in the summer.

And some of it is physical. I know I'm not the only one who has light issues. My mood is noticeably grumpy right now, and I'm craving a day of sunlight so I can smile again, but I'm not actually depressed, as I know SAD sufferers can be. And the depths of the dark winter make the long, warm summer nights so much more enjoyable. But right now, I feel like I'm just hanging on. I am not worried that I won't be able to, but I'm really tired of trying.

So, let it glow, let it glow, let it glow!