Window Watching

I sleep with the curtains open. It's not an invitation to peep (you would have to either dangle from a helicopter, or be a very skilled acrobat to see into the window) but I do like to look outside while lying in my bed. Perhaps it's from listening to so many of Robert Louis Stevenson's poems as a child, or, much less romantically, the worry of that large tree falling on my house, but whatever the reason, I do find it comforting to curl up so small and warm by the window, imagining all sorts of life happening outside as I fall sleep.

I think that maybe the world is divided into two types of people - those who crave sunlight and sky, and those who prefer privacy over exposure. Not to say that sunlight people are exhibitionists, but we tend to compromise a bit more when we need our Vitamin D, and if that means excessive dreaming and the occasional mad dash behind the curtain then so be it.

But windows do far more than let in the daylight and shield us from passers-by - they show us the world, and let us watch the changing seasons without wearing a coat, or grabbing for a nearby pair of flip-flops. They make us curious about the world, and let us wonder why the neighbor hasn't taken down their Christmas Tree yet (little do they know, that after we judge, we secretly enjoy seeing the twinkling lights on a cold, gray day).

I think, that if we didn't have windows, we wouldn't know that the morning always comes, that time passes whether we want it to or not, and that life without us is not as finite as we thought.
We tend to pause at the start of a New Year, and even the most cynical among us gives a passing thought as to how they are doing, and wonder if they could do just a little bit better. We write lists and lists on how we can change, but really, if we just take some time to look out the window, we will see that wonderful things are happening already....

p.s. The above illustration is by Marion H. Matchitt (she illustrated a lot of the childrens books that I have at home.