What Happened to the Night

“What happened to the night?” Johnny asked.

We have been enjoying the night lately. Because our normal has changed, we have been looking for new ideas to keep us entertained. We have discovered that we have a nightly nature show right outside our backdoor.  Tonight after we finished our nightly wildlife session, we weren’t quite ready to go inside so we decided to take a walk in the dark.  “What happened to the night?”, Johnny asked.  It’s true, the night had disappeared. There were outside lights everywhere; lights that come on at dusk, some coming on automatically, some on timers.  It was as bright as a runway. The night had actually disappeared.  Gone was the night!

 I wish you kids could experience the night on the farm back in the 60s. When my dad turned out the lights, it was dark!  All one could see were the twinkling stars above. It was magical, not scary. It was a time when I felt at peace. I felt safe. There wasn’t a need to have a light that came on automatically at dusk; we had daddy.  The night was night!

I love you.  Turn out the lights.

Yes, we did have an outside light but it was a flood light that was turned on only when we needed to go outside. Imagine five children playing under that light in the summertime. Imagine turning on that light to get a glimpse of the glittering snowflakes of the winter.  But when we turned out the light it was night. It was peace. We were safe.  Night was night.