“She’s the type of person that’d pack a flashlight in July.”

I almost prefer the days of dark.

Almost.

Although, I’ve never been the best person to talk to if you are looking for someone to praise the sun. I get sunburnt just by sitting near a window and most of my outdoorsy adventures result in me taking an Advil for my sun-induced headaches. It’s always been like that for me. Stupid ultra-pale skin.

Setting that aside, I still almost prefer the days where we had little sunlight.

When I got here, it seemed like we were in a state of perpetual twilight and sunsets. I would leave for work when it was dark and when I’d get home, I’d catch the last hour of sunlight and be graced with a colorful sky that lasted an hour after the sun completely disappeared beyond the horizon. I loved it.

With the sun setting before six and after midnight, we have 18+ hours of sunlight now, and it grows each day. I feel like we gain sunlight exponentially. Living right on the sea’s edge, so far west, twilight seems to give us an extra hour of light on both ends. With 18+ hours of sunlight, we have closer to 20 hours of light.

It’s weird to think that I should probably go to bed far before the sunset even begins. My blinds are good but not blackout worthy, so it has caused some troubles falling asleep. I don’t dislike the morning sun adding to a gentle wake-up in the morning…perhaps it’ll help me be more of a morning person…(doubtful).

I feel more active, positive, and as if I have more energy in general. Those are all things spring brings me every year. With warmer weather (above freezing, but not quite 40°Fs) and longer days, that rings true up here…yet I feel more exhausted during the day and I wonder if that is just normal end-of-the-year wrap-ups or the fact that I might not be sleeping as well as I did during the season of endless nights.

Not only am I up longer, but students seem to be outside playing endless games of “Eskimo Baseball” (a cross between Cricket, Baseball, and Ready-Roll), riding around on their sno-gos and Hondas, and enjoying the never-ending daylight. Mix those levels of sleep with my low-quality sleep and add a pinch of normal end-of-the-school-year fever, and we find ourselves extra busy with lots of dance breaks.

It’ll be kind of weird to return to the lower 48 this summer and have such an “early” sunset, but I am looking forward to bonfires, which are better under the stars.

“She’s the type of person that’d pack a flashlight in July.”

I read something like that in a book. The book was set in Alaska. At first it didn’t make sense to me, how could packing a flashlight in July be a “dumb” thing…now I get it…but I would probably still pack a flashlight*.

*My Knights of Pythias flashlight to be exact.

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Photos taken on the same night late last week, at 10:47 pm, an hour before sunset. One view is to the north, one is to the south.