Not Just Another Day 3/10/2024

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

There was a morning this week that things changed. I am not entirely sure what happened. I didn’t think that this type of thing would happen this quickly. It seemed like it was all of a 0f a sudden. I thought that metamorphosis was more of a gradual process when one thing turned into another.  I mean I talk about the seasons enough; you’d think I’d have some sort of experience in dealing with them.  Yet I am suddenly totally unaware of how things work.  Is the earth turning a bit differently on its axis these days?  Have I missed a global announcement?

It all started when I went to get my daughter up for school. On mornings prior to the one of which I write, it had been dark. It still seemed for all intents and purposes that it was night outside. In the depths of winter this is simply the way it is. Usually by the time that she and I were beginning the journey to school it was light outside. But waking in the darkness was in no way out of the ordinary for us. After my busy early hours of getting myself ready and finishing up the preparation of her lunch on this particular day, I hadn’t even bothered to take much of a glance out of the windows. I suppose I made the assumption that it would be another dark morning and before we headed out, day would have broken in the more illuminating sense of the word.

But when I opened the door to my daughter’s room, I was shocked by the brightness coming in her windows. I don’t mean to imply that the room was full of golden beams as if it were sat under the noonday sun, but there was brightness. It was the early soft brightness that comes in the beginning of the day, but it was definitely a notable change from the abject blackness that was usually present. And no sooner than my daughter stirred did she ask why it was so bright in her room. This comforted me a bit to know that I wasn’t in fact imagining things and there was a change.  I didn’t have much guidance to give her other than to refer to her the fact that the days were lengthening meaning that spring was getting close.

I know that spring is in fact very near but, I thought that there were gradual changes between the seasons.  Yes, there have been flowers blooming all over as of late. The birds do seem to have significantly amped up their singing recently as well. The small signs are everywhere. But for one day to have my child awaken to night and the next for her to rise to very clear day, I feel like that may be a bit of a jump. Has this happened before, and I missed it? But since my daughter noticed it as well, I feel slightly more justified in being curious about this.

If I am honest, while it is partially the abruptness of this development that has me flustered, I am also not ready for the season change.  As a matter of fact, I noted the first sprinkling of pollen today and I don’t think I am mentally prepared for that.  From here on out it’s just a snowball effect into the inferno. In saying that, we really need to come up with a more heat related description. But no, I will not burden you with my feelings about the weather. This is a terribly exhausted topic, I fear. But the day did get noticeably, and unnervingly brighter, and I wasn’t the only one to notice.

I know that both my daughter and I, don’t particularly have an affinity for change.  Once we’re in a routine and know fully what to expect, anything that throws that off kilter is an unwelcome guest. Especially if the interruption bears news of upcoming, less than thrilling events, then it is likely that the both of us will upturn our noses.  I have no qualms with longer swatches of daylight. I don’t think I am particularly diurnal or nocturnal. Really though, probably my favorite parts of the day are dawn and dusk. And now that I think about that fact, that may explain why I felt strongly enough about a brighter than usual morning to ramble on for several hundred words. (If I am honest, I may well need to apologize for this lengthy diatribe about, not much of anything in particular.) 

But there was a change. And it was sudden, and it was at one of my favorite times of day.  I was caught off guard. My classic predictable routine was altered. This was enough for me to feel like I should write about it. I am reconsidering that now.  Though maybe, if I am grasping at straws, some disappointed soul that is reading this may know how they feel about the comfort of routine so they could at least slightly relate. Surely there are a few people that enjoy sunrises and sunsets.  But the one thing I can feel certain of is that at least once, even if you do love a beautiful dawn, there has been a day when in the comfort of your bed, you have opened your eyes and were most assuredly not pleased with the amount of light in your room. That is somewhere I think we’ve all been.