I Like to see the Sun Go Down

This is not about liking sunsets, which I do. Very much.

Rather, it's about basements and late-afternoon naps in the winter and being cooped up in an cubicle or back room that doubles as your office.

Our primary TV is in our basement. One of the reasons this is so is to discourage us from watching too much television. The problem is, it's the basement. It's away from things we take for granted like natural light. The basement is a kind of worm hole. When I'm down there, time passes, but I can't observe it like I can when I'm near a window.

I know that if I go downstairs at five o'clock, it's still dusk, a time when I can reflect on the day, and, together with the rest of the earth, let go the part we call daylight. If I'm down there for long, that special time has passed and it is just darkness. Just darkness. Unobserverable, stern, unchanging.

When I don't see the sun go down, I feel as though I've lost something.