Shine the light on me

Warding off winter's chill
St. Laurent, QC
November 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It was a day when my wife and I were on the road well before dawn, spent the day hovering over her dad in a gloomy, window-challenged hospital, then emerged late in the evening to the kind of dark, damp cold that's been a staple of brooding filmmakers almost since before film was invented.

I saw this simple string of lights as we grabbed a quick dinner before heading back for a few hours of fitful sleep. The next day promised more of the same, and I found myself looking for signs of comfort, of home. It was the light that got me, grabbed my eyes and my brain and wouldn't let go.

These are, of course, simple Christmas lights. They aren't even artfully installed here, just strewn haphazardly across a dusty window sill overlooking a parking lot slowly being coated with freezing rain as a major storm moves in. No one in this otherwise nondescript suburban restaurant gives these lights, or the scene out the windows, or each other, frankly, a second glance. This is Montreal, after all, and smoked meat must be eaten, typically one-handed, while scrolling through Facebook with the other.

Yet I couldn't stop glancing back at these tiny lights every once in a while as we chatted and half-heartedly nibbled on our sandwiches. The lights cast a small, warm glow that for a brief moment seemed to banish the darkness that's been following us.

They reminded me I still have plenty of blessings around me, and it's up to me to ensure the light, wherever it comes from, always wins the battle against the alternative.

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