Sunday, January 22, 2012

The Lights are Off

Our neighbors keep their sideporch light on all night. I've always thought it was a good idea in lots of ways -- keeping the house lit is welcoming, and probably safe.  I've wondered if it was symbolic...they had a daughter who died and my imagination dreamed up that it was kept on as a reminder that all the children weren't home.

The only small problem is I like to sleep in pitch black dark. And the light shines right in our bedroom.  I was so happy when we got shutters instead of blinds because they blocked the light so much better.

But now they've moved.  It's been a several year process of maybe they'll get to move back, maybe not.  But last week it was for sure not.  And they moved their final belongings.  And for the first time in 8 years, that light has been off for several nights in a row.  I miss it.  I miss them.

1 comment:

Blue said...

great set of posts, Angela!

for the first five years we lived here, our next door neighbor was a pretty awful guy. I've mentioned him at times. But one thing I admired about him was that he was a super early riser...something that I struggle with (being an owl just doesn't seem as RIGHTEOUS as being a lark, somehow.) But what it meant is he was always lights out really early. So consistent was he about going to bed early, that it wasn't till he was gone and we got new neighbors (a nice, newlywed couple) who DON'T go to bed early and turn off their lights, that I realized that the kitchen light shines really bright in our bedroom.

And I'm like you--I want it dark.

But i"m happy to have nice new neighbors, so I'm dealing with it.