Welcoming light from a neighbor’s living room
Have you ever struggled to fall asleep or stay asleep? At some point during that struggle, did you say to yourself (yourself being the only person awake at the time) Screw it! I may as well get out of bed and start my day.
There are far too many of those late night and early morning day-starters for me to recount in this article – the most recent being Monday, December 22nd when my day started at 3:30 a.m. My “best” record occurred a few years ago when I never managed to fall asleep so in that instance my day started the previous day.
I experience an extreme form of loneliness when I abandon my bed to rejoin the empty and dark rooms of my house.
The other day, however, that loneliness was dispelled by the awakeness emanating from my neighbor’s house in the form of lighted rooms. I can not tell you how good it felt to discover that I was not alone. I felt selfishly thrilled that either Patty or Bob were in the same boat as me, and because of their household’s insomniatic experience, I didn’t feel as sad and desperate as before.
I know I can’t count on my neighbors to have as crummy a night’s sleep as I do, but I can count on the fact that if I were to view a live picture of my neighborhood via Google Earth, I would no doubt see multitudes of others occupying the same sleepless zone as me, and consequently, I wouldn’t feel so isolated.
It’s sobering to realize that our neighbors can be an active support for us even when they’re doing nothing at all.
Living: the ultimate team sport 