Lit Up

In the evening, as I stand on the east end of my southern porch and look out over the dark park next door, I can see the lights in the tops of the trees of the electric co-op as they get ready for the Christmas season. It officially launches on Thanksgiving weekend, which is more than a month away, but there are a lot of trees to cover and it takes time and effort to get the lights just right. So, up go the men in the cherry-pickers and the lights will be there for Halloween.

When the show officially opens and the crowds start to come, it is really something to see. The lights shine with a surprising intensity and there are so many and they are so bright that it is difficult to focus on the details of the trees in which they hang. It’s just trees and lights as bright as day. I wonder sometimes if the feeling of awe they engender is anything like what people felt in 1893 when they lit the Chicago World’s Fair and people realized night was no longer going to be a time of darkness. And did anyone realize how hard that would make it eventually to see the stars.