'Well, beat the drum and hold the phone, the sun came out today'

The opening line of John Fogarty's "Centerfield" was perfect for the sight and the first thing that came to mind. On the solstice, the sun came out and if memory and a small bit of research serves, it was the first time we have seen the sun in Southcentral Alaska this December. It has been the darkest of dark days. Storm after storm blew through from the Gulf of Alaska, bringing rain, heavy wet snow and high winds across this part of Alaska for most of the month. When it was not storming, a heavy overcast hung over the land constantly blocking out the sun.

That made a perfect recipe for seasonal affective disorder, that mid-winter malaise that can plunge the happiest soul into depression. According to research, everyone suffers it to some extent, some worse than others, It is physical, caused by a lack of vitamin D and by a lack of sunlight absorbed through the eyes. It used to bother me until I learned what it was and how to avoid it and since then haven't had much difficulty with it. Just knowing what it is, puts you on your guard a little and you can temper the effects, but also, just getting out in the sunlight for a while every day helps. That was what made this month so difficult, I am sure, for many, there was no direct sunlight, only what was filtered by clouds. I noticed a certain tension at work for one thing, and an occasional downslip in my own well-being for another.

Reaching the solstice is a milestone in that now the days start getting longer as the sun begins its journey north again. (An aside: we had a big discussion about how to say this at work last night. Actually, relative to the earth, the sun doesn't move, the earth does and available light is relative to the position of the earth on its axis relative to the sun, as Earth spins in its orbit. Try to explain that in a one-line caption.)

At any rate, the sun did come out and was creating a beautiful sunset as it did while I drove to work. I had to smile when the song came to mind when I saw it. It is the promise that the days are starting to come back, the building of optimism and the beginning of recovery from any of the effects of SAD.

Thinking now what I will do with the additional two seconds of daylight we will receive today.
It won't be long now until there's "new grass on the field." I am ready to "give this game a ride."

Here's a link to a gallery of photographs a photographer made of the solstice sunset yesterday.