"Hang in there folks. Brighter days are coming to great us. The good news? This time of year, we don't live in Barrow, Alaska. That is all."
Barrow, Alaska. Latitude 71 degrees and some change. In the summertime, a great place to live. Solid daylight from sometime in May to sometime in August. This time of year? Depends if you like any daylight at all. When the sun sets sometime in mid November, it is gone until mid January. Total darkness. For sixty-five days. Is that bad for you? Maybe, maybe not - that is, if you have a King's ransom in Vitamin D.
We live on the 45th parallel. Almost dead center. That is halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. Our travels have taken us down to the 5th parallel, and up to the 65th. Mine, due to business, have taken me over the Equator. Then you start going on another latitude range. In any event, one the things we learned when we were down by the 5th, was this - the days and nights stay pretty even, all year long.
When I was stationed up in northern Maine, it got dark early in the winter time. You would get off work, go back to the barracks, change out of your uniform, and then - not much. You could go to the club and drink, if you had a TV, sit in your barracks room and watch one of two channels coming out of Bangor, or read. I chose to just read. Lots and lots of reading. The kind of reading I should have done while in college before going in the Navy.
When the sun finally started to appear in longer periods up in Maine, it was like in Minnesota. People looked better, they acted friendlier, hope was once again in the air. Spring is a time of renewal and refreshment. Some places, the further north you do, spring can become very short. Further south, spring can become a much longer season. But the daylight - oh, do I miss the daylight! The cold, the snow, I don't like - but I can endure. But the darkness - that is a different story, all-together.
I know, I know. Our planet got its tilt, from "something", millions of years ago. That 23 degree tilt gives us our seasons, as well as for some, our very LONG seasons. But it is what is is. Last night when we left for our church small group meeting at 6:15pm, it was like leaving at midnight. Left at dark, came home at dark. When I got up today to make coffee, it was still dark. Why bring this up? We are less than a month from Winter Solstice. That means, this time next month, the days will start getting longer. Maybe by only minutes a day, but longer.
Hang in there folks. Brighter days are coming to great us. The good news? This time of year, we don't live in Barrow, Alaska. Sunrise would be a long way off. That is all, and that is enought.
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