And the Days Start Getting LongerI

I must confess that when I was younger I never made any attention to such things as solstices. I'm not sure I even knew what they were.

I'm not even sure when I started noticing how the days shortened and lengthened. I did notice when we had harvest crews, how towards the end of harvest, it became almost too dark to eat outside in the evenings. Although it had been no problem when we started in the early days of cutting. We had no air conditioning in the house at the ranch, so it was much cooler to feed the harvest hands outside at the picnic table. (Even with the occasional mosquito!)

As time went by I realized more and more how much I disliked the long nights of winter. There was something about waking up in the dark, going to work while it was still dark, enjoying a bit of sunlight at noon -- if we were lucky -- then driving home again in the dark. I started looking forward to the lengthening of daylight as Spring approached.

Then there were the couple of trips we made to Alaska in the month of May. I recall how we looked out our hotel windows at eleven at night to watch kids still playing basketball -- without needing lights! I remember thinking I'd really like to live where it was daylight for so many hours a day. Then someone explained to me that it also meant living where there was more than 23 hours of darkness the other part of the year!

I've also become aware of how many people become depressed during the short days of sunshine. Some even use light therapy to help them get through the winter darkness. I do find it sort of ironic that when I, and others, celebrate the beginning of longer days, it is technically, the first official day of winter. So be it! It still makes me happy!