"We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness"

The power went out last night.
It was the perfect kind of storm - pouring rain, howling wind and then complete darkness.
It made helping everyone to bed a little difficult, but we managed (although I broke a flashlight in the process!) and we were able to retire to the livingroom and enjoy the peace of no power and only candles for light.

There's something about the quiet of a power outage that makes you yearn for a simpler life. I had my hearing tested this summer and the audiologist told me that the only thing wrong with my hearing was that " we live in a noisy world." The loss of power eliminates all of the humming and whirring that comes from kitchen appliances, and makes it necessary for us to rely on each other for entertainment. When the power would go off at my parents' house they would get me to play the piano. Last night, Ben made me play Beatles' tunes on my guitar. Perhaps having a weekly power outage would be good for us - keep us more closely knit and allow us to really enjoy each others' company.

So that was it. I loved the darkness. When the lights came back on it felt like a movie had ended, or that it was 3am at a club and they had turned on the lights - kind of disappointing.

Most quotations talk about the need for light in the darkness, but I suppose sometimes we should also look for some darkness in the midst of all the light.

Oh. And if you're listening to CBC tomorrow - I'm going to be on around 16:30 est :)

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars."

The days are getting shorter, and in more ways than the simple fact that the sun is setting earlier.

Life in Cape Breton has been filled with loneliness - happiness - worry - laughter - busy days - short nights - confusion - hope - understanding and all of the things that make life interesting and worth sticking around for.

There have been pictures and stories and adventures, but I'll leave them for now and go for a walk in the rain.