Using the Cold
The coming of fall and winter brings me a personal pleasure I never would have imagined as a younger man. It comes after that moment in the night when I can no longer sleep and the tossing and turning drives me from beneath the covers. I go onto the porch, jacketless. I embrace the cold air. The cold air embraces me. I stare into the night. Sometimes there’s a breeze. Mostly not. Usually, it’s just the cold and me.
There in that cold and dark, as my extremities start to lose heat, my racing mind begins to slow as everything starts to shrink back on itself. The brain is reminded that it needs rest, the body gins up the chemicals needed for sleep, the dark encourages it, and just like that I find myself wanting the warmth of a bed beneath the covers. Sleeplessness is driven away to skulk in the corner and wait for its next opportunity to pester me. And I am thankful to be an old man, wise in nature’s ways.