Friday, March 7, 2008

YES! Another Cloudy Day!!


By raise of hand, how many of you are the type of person who feels happy on bright sunny days? You live for the sun and days that you can be out in it. Just to let you know, both of my hands are firmly planted on my keyboard typing up this blog entry. It's not that I dislike sunny days, I just happen to be one of those non-standard persons who gets really happy when the clouds roll in. The more clouds in the sky, the happier I become. The darker the clouds become, the faster my heart beats in anticipation of the storm brewing. I would love to go storm chasing with the folks who go hunting tornadoes. I get all giddy inside just thinking about it.


It does seem to go against all rational thought that I prefer a cloudy day to a sunny one. Sunshine is good for you. It's scientifically proven to make you happy. Vitamin D does all kinds of good things for your body. I have a dear friend who suffers from what's called SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. Her Dr.'s treat it with light therapy. Basically she has a very bright light that she turns on for so much time and it tricks the brain into the thinking it's sunlight; thus, I guess, decreasing the depressed mood caused by SAD.


The irony of our situations is we each live in a place that would be perfect for the other. She lives in Ireland where, for a good portion of the time, it's cloudy. I live in Houston, where, most of the time, it's sunny. Granted, we do get our fair share of rain here; Houston has an annual rain fall average of somewhere around 42".


My love of cloudy days goes beyond psychological and into the physical. My eyes do not like bright sunny days. I see more clearly on cloudy days or in the half light of dusk after the sun has set below the horizon. Colors are sharper and I am able to focus on more details. But just as my eyes don't see clearly in bright light, they also don't see well in the dark. Now you're saying to yourself, DUH, no one see's well at night. But I dont' mean at night; I'm talking more along the lines of watching TV in the dark or going to the movies. Everyone wants to shut off all the lights and I do much better with at least a small light on. The bright light of the TV or movie reflects badly on my glasses and having a small amount of light behind me counteracts the glare and helps me see better.


So, on days like today, when you're wishing the clouds would blow away and the sun would hurry back, know that at least one person in Houston is a happy camper.

2 comments:

Naomi said...

Oh my goodness I thought I was the only one. The colors of the world can be seen so much better when it is cloudy. I love gray days. Rain is my favorite weather. It's one of the positive reasons I can think of for living here.

Heather said...

You and Bobby both and I must admit, I find the dark dreary days to be much cooler looking. I'm much more likely to open all the blinds in the house when it's storming than on any other day.