I guess it's really not that bad. But at the same time, it really does suck.
December’s one of those months that I can’t quite decide if I really like; after all, it has the good (Christmas cookies, at least during a non-Covid year when I make Christmas cookies), the bad (cold, and no time to do anything), and the ugly (I turn another year older). But it also has something that happens during this time of the year. It gives me my only chance (or two) to see a phenomenon that I otherwise am unable (or unwilling) to experience.
That’s right--December allows me to see my only sunrise (or two) of the year.
Those of you who know me know that during most of the year I’m never awake to see a sunrise. The closest I come are those nights in June when I fall asleep a few hours before the sun rises. I’m not complaining, or anything; based on my body clock, that’s just a fact of life. But with the sun rising so late (if at all) during December, it does allow me the opportunity to get out and see it come up. . .if, of course, our ever-present cloud bank actually allows it.
This year, though, I've been a little lucky. Especially yesterday morning when there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
Yesterday, and on those various days when I do get to see a sunrise, it occurred when I was out running, and it usually seems to occur when I’m out running on the bike path near Shiras Park. I’m pretty sure you get the best view of a sunrise in Marquette from there; after all, there must be a reason a bunch of cars are parked in the lot every morning around the time the sun comes up. And I have to admit, the one sunrise (or two) a year I see from that location is much different than the sunsets I see from many different locations on a regular basis. The sunsets always seem to be “dirty”, for lack of a better word. When the sun goes down for the night it’s masked by all kinds of gunk in the air, kicked up by the activities of everyone during the day. Sure, the sunsets can be quite vivid, but like I said, they seem “dirty”.
Not the one sunrise (or two) a year I see, though. The atmosphere’s had the chance overnight to clean out all the gunk that accumulated in it the previous day, so that when the sun comes up, it comes up undiluted by the flotsam of the previous day. Like the daybreak it heralds, the sun when rising is clean and clear and full of promise. I can see why people enjoy watching it come up, and I’d do it more often myself, if only during most of the year the sun just didn’t come up so darn early.
So aside from Christmas cookies, I guess you can add “sunrises” to the list of good things that December brings. I’m not quite sure if those two outweigh the cold and lack of time and the fact that I turn a year older, but at least December has one or two things going for it.
Unlike, say, January. But that’s a topic for another month!
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