As I get older I am discovering that I don’t sleep as much anymore. I find myself awake in the middle of the night. I might use the time to do some deep breathing or meditate or I might just get up and start my day writing or doing some paper work for the business. Last night, however I was woken from a sound sleep. Our elderly dog was pacing back and forth. As I tried to shake off sleep I noticed that it was dark, really dark. The power was out and all of the background light that is usually present in our life was out. And the electric dog door was shut.
I know I have recently written about the light pollution that we have created in the world around us, yet I did not own up to the light pollution that exists in my own home. I have been shocked on a number of late night rising just how much “passive” light is running in the house. It seems that everything we buy has something running. It is like a night light in every corner of our main room. I realized last night that my deep sleep was probably a result of all of that static finally being shut off. There was no residual light, no background hum and no electronic movement. It was still and quiet.
A power outage is no fun for us. It requires a bit of hustling about to get the heat and house self-maintaining. Yet last night after calling the power company we decided to just head back to bed. We gave into the darkness. We let go and decided that the morning would take care of itself. It was a nice thought. The power came on moments after we arrived back in bed. Our night life rebooted and we fell back to sleep (sort of) by the light of all our electronics.
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