When do you notice the days starting to get longer? Every year it feels new to me, a kind of quiet discovery. Maybe it’s when I open the front door in the morning to get the newspaper off the porch—and I don’t have to turn on the light to find it.
Or maybe it’s walking out of my yoga class at the end of the day and noticing the sky is a textured gray skin instead of black. Shimmering and whispering, saying, “Are you paying attention?” Yes, I am. Somehow, I don’t take it for granted. Although I take for granted almost ever every other miracle about my existence, the lengthening days continue to astound me.
And every year I wonder what it would be like if the days didn’t start to get longer? What if they just kept getting shorter, what if the earth’s axis failed to tip itself aright? Who would notice first? The scientists? The newspaper delivery folks?
And then what? I guess we’d all forget about our other difficulties and differences in a hurry. But meanwhile, I’m paying attention when I get the morning paper. One of these days there will be a miracle on the porch.