Reflections on the Dark

There was a period in my life when this time of the year brought on extra excitement. The winter nights were longer and that meant more time in the dark, longer hours for doing things that people do in the dark. In those times, I understood just what Sting, Stewart and Andy were getting at -- indeed, "Bring on the Night":



But the days of bars and parties are largely past for me. In fact, if truth be told, I was never really into that scene too much anyway. These days the shortness of the daylight hours leaves me listless, cold, and dispirited. In my head, the Counting Crows stellar "Daylight Fading" is laced with a sadness that I feel this time of year, a longing for the excitement of night only to find the reality to be something less, something far from fulfilling:



Maybe that's one of the reasons why the Christian season of Lent -- "the lengthening of days" -- holds meaning for me. I connect with the introspection the season, to be sure. But that self-examination is played out against of backdrop of creeping daylight and warming weather. The combination, culminating in Easter, has a certain exhilaration for me.

It might also be a reason why certain sports hold their place in my life: Baseball is the game I played most (and, probably, best) as a boy, perhaps because it celebrated summer. But my affection for football -- specifically the Packers -- has been cast in a new light, too. My passion for the Packers might be a life raft for me, a vehicle that ushers me through the growing darkness until the time when the days start to lengthen and my spirits rediscover their equilibrium.