Solstice

Project Blog It

The solstices are both my favorite and my dreaded days of the year. The summer solstice, when the sun crosses the Tropic of Cancer, marks the longest day of the year in our hemisphere, the day when we experience maximum daylight, the official start of summer, and my favorite day of the year.

The winter solstice, when the sun crosses the Tropic of Capricorn, marks the exact opposite, the shortest day of the year. The day we experience maximum darkness, the official start of winter, and my least favorite day of the year.

Sunlight is important to me. It makes me happy, brings me joy, and makes me feel good. I love long long days that start early in the morning and last until long past evening. The summer solstice is the pinnacle of such days. It is the moment from which I can look forward and see the long, bright, warm summer months ahead of me. It is a moment of pure bliss when I feel like there is so much time ahead of me, and there really is. It is the moment I think about, months from then, looking back, and wishing it hadn’t all passed by so quickly, wishing that I still had some more time—but on the solstice, I really do have all of that time.

As the days are nearing there shortest time and we approach the winter solstice, I’m starting to feel that sense of longing, even anguish, for warmth and daylight. But on thinking about solstices, I wonder if perhaps I’ve gotten it wrong. Yes, the summer solstice remains my favorite day of the year, but that day also marks a turning point. It marks the point after which the days begin to shorten. And in the same way, though the winter solstice marks the shortest and darkest day, it also marks the point at which the days begin to lengthen. Yes, it will take months for the sun to cross the equator bringing me more light than darkness, but after the winter solstice, we’ve turned a corner and begin to move back towards warmth and light. Likely the coldest days of the year remain ahead of us, but the countdown to those long sunny days I love so much has begun.

It seems the dark and the light go hand-in-hand together, one with the other, in balance, unity, and harmony. And I guess that’s as it should be.


Please check the blogs listed on the right for companion pieces to this week's prompt.

Next week's prompt: Bitchin Camaro.