The promise of the night

 

I’m a night person. I always have been. If I had my druthers I’d stay up til dawn pretty much every night. At night my mind seems to come most alive. I love the quiet. I love that the world around me slows down, shuts the fuck up and I can enjoy the silence. I used to go for walks late at night just to enjoy the ghost town feeling. Of course, those walks couldn’t drift towards any bars but I‘d walk all the way up or down side streets. Once upon a time I used to walk down Ashland. I used to walk up and down Chapin Parkway and Lincoln Parkway when I lived next to them. I could get lost in my mind, without distraction, without restriction. What I’d sacrifice in color and vision in the darkness, I’d substitute in peace and imagination and that could be quite enlightening. The night has its own dark beauty. Most times music sounds better at night. Movies are more fun at night. Books really come alive at night.

 

"What a nice night for an evening."  - Steven Wright

 

Did you ever notice night falls and the day rises? I fell for the night all right. From a young age I’ve embraced it and I admit I’ve had a chip on my shoulder my whole life because the night is a promise that we never got to keep. When I was a kid, I always had to go to sleep early because it was a “school night”. When I finally got through almost 20 years of school I took a few years and enjoyed the night thoroughly but before too long I had to grow up despite my stubbornness and then what used to be school nights became “work nights”… always an excuse to get to bed at a “reasonable hour”.

 

But you still get weekends, don’t cha? What happens if you stay up all night on the weekend and then you get to Sunday night? Your sleep schedule gets all messed up. Weekends are a lie in that way. A tease. We work our whole lives til we get old and used up. Then we can stay up as late as we want but you and I both know old people are not night owls. The pants get pulled up higher, it takes longer to get up them stairs and we are so tired. Naps are no longer negotiable.

 

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."  - Vincent Van Gogh

 

These days I work a shift from 10am to 630pm Monday thru Friday. I wake up at 9:30 each morning since I work from home and even though all I have to do is get up, pee and then move into the other room and turn on all my work equipment and apps, I often barely make it on time. Many “work nights” I am up til 2 or 3am. I can’t help myself. My mind is going and I can’t possibly stop it so some days are a bit harder than others. All I want is to stay up all night and do whatever the muse tells me to do. And if the muse is off that night, then the angel and devil on my shoulder can chime in or my inner child can get me moving. Maybe the dreamer can dream and the curious cat can dig. I want to learn things, love things, create things and enjoy things… and I want to do it all night long. Is that too much to ask for in this life? Cheers to all you night people out there.

 

"Life begins at night."  - Charlaine Harris