It happens when I'm driving at night or walking through a lit parking lot. A street light will go out. I don't know why. It just does. Just the other night, three street lights shorted out in my presence: Once at an intersection, and the others times in the parking lot of the recreation center and then on the drive home.
Zap. Poof.
The lights come back on eventually, but I don't know why they go dark in the first place. It's a common occurrence that happens about six to ten times a year. Three times in one night is a record. Truth be told, my dimming "skills" don't go unnoticed because my wife and son have witnessed these incidents.
When it happens. I look to the sky and say hello to my father who passed away some 13 years ago. I've adopted it as a sign that my he is checking on me. Street lights have no particular significance with my father. They were not a part of his life. He didn't pass away because he crashed in to one. I've simply chosen to associate these occurrences with him. It triggers me to remember that he was important part of my life; to take a second out of the day and just say hi. At first "lights out" was odd, now they are comforting.
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ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger, and my grandfather passed away, my mother told me that he had become a star. In fact, she said, that's why there were so many in the sky - they represented loved ones that had passed.
ReplyDeleteAs an adult, I know better. And by better, I mean the scientific definition. Stars are comprised of hydrogen and helium.
It didn't stop me, however, when my grandmother died two years ago, from looking for the brightest star in the sky that night and whispering her name.