The Light We Wished We Could See

Hint: It’s Inside All of Us

Human nature dictates that we are drawn to the light.  We are not nocturnal creatures like the bat or the possum, although I dearly love possums.  Our circadian rhythm forces us to wake with the sunrise, or shortly thereafter, and become sleepy in the dark.  With the rise of electric light in the past century, the daily rhythm of living has shifted away from the underlying structure to which we have adhered for millennia.  One century is not long enough to change evolution.

This little guy is my spirit animal!

This past week brought a reminder of the biological need for humans to live in the light.  Tuesday night, a storm brough powerful winds to our portion of the state, and over 300,000 homes lost power.  We were among that lucky number.

For two days, we reverted to our pre-electric roots.  All along our small suburban street, windows flung open, people sat on their porches, children played in the streets.  Neighbors congregated in driveways to chat.  Normally, we each would have self-selected isolation in our air-conditioned living rooms, watching Netflix and scrolling our phones. 

Two days of involuntary darkness led humans to seek the light in each other.  Backyard barbecue grills blazed to life to cook up food before it spoiled without refrigeration.  The small park at the end of our street filled with children playing with each other instead of video games.  My husband and I encountered quite a few people strolling the neighborhood when we took the dogs on their evening walk.    

Gidget McFidget enjoyed having the humans paying less attention to gadgets and more attention to her, including extra walkies!

Those two days without power became a strangely liminal space, like a school during summer recess or a bar after closing time when all the lights come on.  Without my laptop, I curled up with a pen and notebook and scribbled bits that could morph into new poems.  By lantern light, I read two full poetry collections for which I’ve meant to find time.  Instead, time found me.  For two days, life slowed to a peaceful hum, the purr of generators in the distance as I sat in the backyard and watched hummingbirds visit the exuberance of flowers in our garden. 

These are only a few of the gorgeous flowers exploding in our garden right now.

Watching the sun set on our second night without electricity, I realized how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to take for granted these modern inconveniences.  Despite the hollow ring of incandescent light surrounding our homes, we are each of us lucky to have the warm, natural light inside.

Now, the power is back, and I listen to the washer and dryer running as I churn through accumulated emails.  Part of me misses the quietude of that forced break, but I’m happy to have air conditioning again.

Here, take some light for yourself.  Tell me, what will you do with your light – today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life?

If you’d like to support my work without a paid subscription you can do so by:

·                 ‘Hearting’ this post and others.

·                 Leaving a comment (I respond to each comment).

·                 Sharing this post by email, Notes, or on social media.

·                 Recommending my page on your page.

Thank you for being one of my readers, I appreciate every single one of you very much!