Experts say, “Lights needed to circumvent crap weather and matching moods”
Rochester, NY -- When the going gets tough, the tough get cranky, at least in Rochester. To compliment near record breaking cold temperatures in Rochester this season, the mood remains at a constant “Dismal at Best,” occasionally skirting near the “Would rather spend the winter gnawing off my own hand” category. Commonly, students and native Rochesterians alike can be caught saying, “It’s already nasty out. I’m going to stay inside and snarl at passers-by.”
Though ugly sweater parties and Hulu marathons appear with high frequency to soften the blow of nature’s bitchslap, the efforts still fall short to put some cheer on the frigid tundra desperation. A solution? Lights.
There was a house down the street from where I grew up, which all the local kids referred to as “that crazy guy’s house”. At the end of August, his matchbox house would transform to an elaborate light show, dwarfing and overwhelming his tiny piece of property. Finally, around April, the lights would come down, and the neighborhood kids would secretly look forward to the fall when the glowing reindeer and ornaments came back out. At the time, I thought this behavior was totally mad. The guy went out of his way to turn his home into an oddity.
This year, I put up some pumpkin lights for Halloween. As November neared, I decided I would leave them up for Thanksgiving (Jack-o-Lanterns are harvest-ish, right?). As Thanksgiving passed, it seemed close enough to Christmas to switch out the pumpkins for Christmas lights. And at mid-January, those lights are still on my walls, greeting me when I come home to otherwise total darkness at the witching hour of five in the afternoon.
In such a cold environment, it’s easy to forget that spring is ever going to get here. And if I may wax on poetic on yo’ ass for a moment, it’s easy to forget spring will come back to work, school, relationships, health, and anything we do to get pleasure. I like to think that the crazy woman lights on my house extend an invitation to people: It’s okay to come celebrate. When I pass by some rope lights on a strange block, it reminds me: I may not be able to get out and celebrate or renew now, but there are others who want that change as much as I do.
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