Dear Waking Up to Light (As Opposed to Sound)

Dear Waking Up to Light (As Opposed to Sound),

Hey. There's not a whole lot I really need to say to you in this letter, but it's important that I say it, nonetheless. And maybe I'm jumping the gun just a little bit, but I don't really care because I'm so excited about you.

You are a great thing. My new dawn simulator alarm clock woke me up this morning. It went something like this:

I become conscious while my eyes are still closed, and I know that it's time to be getting up. My alarm clock has not gone off, however, so I'm curious as to how I know that it's time to be getting up if nothing set me off. So I open my eyes to see that the room is softly lit up and steadily getting a little brighter. A-ha! I realize that I am you, and it feels so good. So satisfying. I don't go through that "aaah shhhhh . . . " feeling that I normally do when I wake up early in the morning and all is dark around me. Nope. Instead, I wake to look around my room and see things. So f-ing incredible, I can't even begin to explain it.

You totally erased (for one morning, at least) that painful, sudden sit-up-and-swear feeling I get when I am knocked out of the land of dreams by the sound of my radio turning on (don't even get me started on the days when I woke up to an alarm beeping - that's got to be the worst sound in the history of Man). It made me excited to just get my day on. Granted, some of that excitement came from me eagerly anticipating the use of my new Light Therapy Lamp, but still . . .

Talking about the lamp, though, I think that might have had some benefit today, as well. I know that it's not supposed to work like that. I shouldn't have instantaneous results. But all I can say is that today was a Friday, at the end of a FULL week of teaching crazy middle school children, and it was RAINING - and I felt better than ever. I was energetic and excited to just go out and DO something (as opposed to my normal urge to just find a bed to go lie in). Hell - I even ended up shopping for some clothes, and being perfectly happy doing so.

I bought some athletic shorts because they were on sale.

THAT'S how good I felt this late afternoon. And can I attribute it to you? To the Light Therapy Lamp? To both? I know I probably should withhold my judgement a little bit before I do so - but f- that. I think I can attribute it to both. You were the most wonderful way to wake up ever devised, and it only got better with some quality time under the lamp. So many other variables were involved (such as a good day at school, plus an amazingly awesome all-school assembly), but I still think a large portion is due to you and the lamp.

Have I mentioned you yet? Or the Lamp? Because I want to. At this rate, this blog is slowly going to become a free advertisement for light therapy and dawn simulation, in the form of letters to different iterations of your names. How long can that go on before my Loyal Reader stops reading? It might take a little bit.

If today really was an indication of how I could feel this winter with the help of my lightable friends, I may just end up starting a non-profit here in Portland that specializes in giving people Light Therapy Lamps during the winter time. Or maybe building little light therapy kiosks all over town for public use. It might just make the Portland world a happier, better place. Maybe if - instead of sending kids home when they are out of control - we had our students sit under a Light Therapy Lamp for an hour, it would completely change their behaviours, as well.

You never know. This could very well be the beginning of a movement.

Of course, maybe all those other variables were the real contributors to my lovely mood today, in which case we can expect a lot of complaining on my end in a couple weeks. But I just have this feeling . . .

Thank you, Waking Up to Light (As Opposed to Sound), for helping me start my wonderful day off right, and I am looking forward to more of the same over the course of the next seven months.

Giddy Like a School-Teacher,
CVT