There comes a point every September when I realize I’m turning the lights on earlier.
It shouldn’t surprise me. It happens every year, after all. The days have actually been getting shorter since June, a few minutes at a time, but during the summer it’s easy not to notice. There are still long evenings, warm afternoons, and plenty of daylight left when the workday is over. Then September comes along, and suddenly the difference is harder to miss.
The mornings are darker when we get up. Evening seems to arrive before we’re quite ready for it. The sun sits differently in the sky, and even on a warm afternoon, the light has that unmistakable autumn look to it.
This past week brought the autumn equinox, that brief point in the year when daylight and darkness come close to meeting each other evenly. From here, darkness slowly begins taking up more of our day as we move toward winter.
Maybe that sounds a little gloomy, but I don’t think it has to be.
There is so much beauty in this particular change of seasons. Here in Maine, the trees are beginning to show more color every day. A branch that was completely green a few days ago suddenly has patches of orange or brilliant red. Mornings have that coolness that makes you think twice before walking outside without a sweater, even when the afternoon might be warm enough to make you wonder why you brought one.
Soon there will be fallen leaves crunching beneath our feet, that unmistakable smell of autumn in the air, and evenings when being inside a warm house feels especially cozy because it’s already dark outside.
I love those things. But I also think it’s okay to admit that the changing light doesn’t feel wonderful to everyone all the time.
Some of us miss those long summer evenings almost as soon as they're gone. We might notice that we have less energy as the daylight disappears, or that the earlier darkness simply feels different. That doesn’t mean we can’t love fall.
We can love the brilliant colors of October and still miss sitting outside at eight o’clock at night with the sun in the sky. We can look forward to sweaters, warm drinks, Halloween, and chilly mornings while knowing that January darkness will feel very different from September darkness. We can appreciate what this season brings without pretending that every part of the change is easy.
Maybe that’s part of the beauty of living somewhere where the seasons change so dramatically. Nothing stays exactly the same for very long.
For now, we’re moving toward the darker part of the year, and maybe that means paying a little more attention to the light we do have and to the small things that make these shorter days beautiful.
Just yesterday, a dragonfly stopped to rest on my porch. I was surprised to see one this late in September, and for a little while it simply sat there before continuing on its way. It was such a small thing, but also exactly the kind of moment I might have missed if I hadn't stopped long enough to notice it.
The sunlight coming through leaves that have just begun to turn. A lamp glowing in the window when you pull into the driveway. Candles on a table. The warmth of the kitchen while something good is cooking. A favorite blanket that hasn’t been needed for months. The first morning when you can see your breath in the air.
None of those things replace a long summer evening. They aren’t supposed to. They’re simply part of the season we’re in now.
The light is changing. I think I’ll try to notice the beauty in it while it’s here.