Dark and Cold

Only two weeks since setting the clocks back an hour. It's still dark when I make my first cup of coffee and retrieve the newspaper from the end of the driveway.  Most mornings there's a poor soul walking the dog amid the dawn chill.  They have playtime later but some probably have second thoughts about their obligations to their Best Friend.  My own short stroll outdoors remains brief, too brief to justify adding to my night clothing.  With poor light, I've not been dumping the recycling en route to the newspaper, as it is not always obvious which is the bin with the green lid.

Which deters me more, the dark or the cold?  Probably the dark. It should be chilly this season.  That's what keeps my geographic setting invigorating.  I should not need supplemental illumination at my usual waking time ever.  That is how our brains and sleep patterns evolved.  The cycles of nature include sunrise, sunset, and seasons.  Definition of when we should be up and about based on a clock that drives a consistent wake time sometimes runs contrary to the mechanisms that we have to best cope with the world.

I expect it to get darker and colder as we move from fall into winter.  I could change my wake time, as my personal schedule in retirement has few external contingencies, but responding to that 6:30AM buzz on my left wrist irrespective of how I feel that morning has helped enormously in framing the day that follows it.  I could delay retrieving the paper until dawn has progressed sufficiently to let me put the recycling in the proper receptacle at the same time.  As Thanksgiving approaches, I could express appreciation for my schedule that part of each year allows me to partake of the transition from night to day.

Soon the temperature will fall below freezing.  Outdoor containers may need to spend their nights indoors.  The strolling dogs and their owners may be in more of a hurry to get the business done quickly, with exercise and playtime expanded indoors.  The newspaper will still arrive each morning, with its obligatory retrieval while the first k-cup brews.  And it will be even darker and colder.