The Upside
If there’s an upside to winter and long dark nights. It’s cool air and long dark nights. On the many occasions when I find myself awake between the hours of midnight and dawn, it is refreshing to step outside, to feel the chill, and to see the star bright sky. It happened last night, and it was augmented by the sweet smell of wood smoke wafting over from my neighbor who warms his old farmhouse with a wood-burning stove.
After feeling the chill and catching a glimpse of the stars, I was right back to sleep. It was a big improvement over the night previous when I failed to go right back to sleep. I have to exercise caution on days like those because sleep deprivation can lead to all sorts of misery and bad decisions. I did manage a nice round of golf with my brother and acquitted myself reasonably well. Still, I might have done better if I was fully rested. Goal: more sleep.
All of these positive thoughts of beauty and sleep, however, are tempered by the knowledge this week that a good friend of many years is taking his aging father home to hospice, another friend just two days back, lost a brother to a car accident, and still another friend suffered the anniversary of her husband’s death after laying her own father to rest just weeks before. Lots of people drinking from the cup of sorrow. Still, I know all of them, having raised the cup to their lips, know how to put it down. And I know eventually they’ll raise a cup of cheer to honor the memory of the loved ones. And on a cool winter’s night they;ll even step outside, look up at the stars, and remember the missing.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale