I Thank the Lord for the Night Time

OK, I'm thinking Neil Diamond was correct in thanking the Lord for the night time. I've always been a night owl. I like staying up late. Heck, I was even born at 3:30pm. I'm guessing it was so I could stay up later and enjoy the late evening. Do I do anything exciting in the evening? No, I'm boring. But I still like it when the night comes.

When I was little, I thought all the cool shows came on late. When your bedtime is 830pm, your world view is quite limited. I loved Fridays when I could stay up late and legally watch the late news, reruns of Benson, MASH, Barney Miller, maybe even Johnny Carson (Jay Leno, you are still a jerk). Sometimes I'd stay up and read books, listen to music in my bed (or Channel 6 on the radio), read Trivial Pursuit cards, etc. I've been a nerd for a LONG time.

These days though, I like the night for other reasons. For one thing, sunsets. My love for sunsets has been there for a while. The colors that are in the sky during a sunset are amazing. A sunset after a storm, though, is absolutely breathtaking. Plus, it calms me. If I'm lucky enough to be out when a sunset occurs, I know it's a great bookend to the day, a coda. My rough day is over and the stress and the panic and the frantic mad dash are over for about 12 hours or so.

I also love the peacefulness of the night. At home, I always liked it when everyone was asleep. I can be alone with my thoughts. Maybe read, watch some stupid show on E! or HGTV. I actually like just lying in bed, in the peace and quiet in the dark. Alone with my thoughts, looking for clarity, I lie there staring into the dark wondering what's coming up next.

Finally, to show I'm not completely boring, I do love the excitement that the night brings. Well, at least the look of the excitements. I love how cities are lit up in the dark. Whenever I fly, I love getting a window seat for the view anyway. But at night, that view takes on a new dimension and new meaning. I love watching as the dark night is pierced by all of those lights below. The cities look full of promise and activity. I peer out the small window on the world and see thousands of stars in amber and cool blue. To me, it's as if the universe was turned upside down and I'm looking down at the stars. (A starry night is another beautiful thing, especially at the beach. I could write another full blog on that). My favorite big city light show though was Times Square, NYC. I had seen it in tv shows & movies for years. Last year, I finally went. I'm sure I must have looked like Jethro Bodine or Gomer Pyle (dumb hick in the big city) but I didn't care. All 5 of my senses seemed to have a reaction to everything that was going on. It was midnight on a Saturday. The place was packed, signs and advertisements lit the area like a man made sun. I was overwhelmed at seeing that dream come true of visiting NYC. I had to take a video of me doing a 360 in Times Square and trying to soak everything in.

Hopefully this explains why I'm usually up late chatting, writing, reading, etc. I just love the night. It has so much to offer (especially a rainy night, Eddie Rabbit was spot on!). Maybe one day, I'll be brave enough to do more than just observe.