Tomorrow, June 21st, marks the summer solstice. That is the longest day of the year. In no other place that I have been has the change in the amount of sunlight in a day been so apparent. Here in the Yukon it has been obvious for the last two months that the days have been getting longer. Now, it seems as though they are almost never-ending. Though, the days seem endless, the perpetual night of winter hangs over the north like a shadowy ghost. Six months from tomorrow is the shortest day of the year and though I have yet to be here for a true Yukon winter, the thought of endless darkness cannot escape my mind. I believe it is due to this shadow of days to come that the people here draw every minute of daylight out of the summer. For they know, that all too soon the sunlight will be a distant memory lost in the darkness.
It is odd having so much sunlight. Getting off work at ten or eleven o’clock and having to wear sunglasses is not something I have ever experienced before. Despite sleep being very difficult it is nice to go outside at two in the morning and having it be dusk. Even though I appreciate all the sunlight and the lush greens that quickly appear due purely to the amount of time they get to spend in the sun everyday, I feel like I don’t truly appreciate it. I feel like I can’t. I feel as though until I have lived through the endless, hopeless, nights of winter I will never understand what all this sun means to the people of the north. I also know that though it seems to me that the days are never-ending here the further north you go the more this becomes true. I know that if I were to fly two hours north there would be literal sunlight, 24 hours a day, for three days straight starting today. I also know that I don’t think I could stand that.
Now, as I have said the people here take full advantage of the sunlight while they have the chance. They don’t fool around. I was told by one local not to waste time watching movies or TV shows but to save that for the winter. “Go out and get your sun while you can” seems to be the theme here and a good theme it is. I do feel though, that I really don’t fully grasp this concept. I don’t get it. I don’t think I possibly can. How does one balance getting the most out of the sun while you have the chance versus not sleeping properly due to the amount of sun. I have been told to sleep in the winter.
Starting the day after tomorrow everything reverses. The days will begin to shorten, the air will begin to become cooler, and before too long the winter will be here. Even now, the day before the longest day of the year there are solemn reminders of winter all around. As you look around the city, a city surrounded by mountains and cliffs made of clay, you see snow on the peaks. The snow refusing to surrender the strong hold it has gained over centuries and centuries, threatening the city and its people everyday. Ideally sitting, and waiting for the moment, not far off, when once again it can reclaim what has been lost to sun and melt. Waiting for a time when once again, everything the eye can see is covered, and lost beneath a thick merciless blanket of snow. Until that day, the people of the north, myself included, will not allow the threat of winter to ruin the presence of summer. Although, the winter is inevitable, and while in it it may seem never-ending, summer is always just right around the corner waiting to once again take back the land and the rivers, and the lakes. To guide the people out of the darkness, and to warm the bodies and souls.
So, on these long summer days and nights when sleep seems impossible, I remind myself that before I know it winter will once again fall upon the north. Until that happens I will bath in the sunlight. I will drink it in like my morning coffee and when winter does come I will remember the summer and the sunlight fondly. I will hold it close to my heart so that I may make it through the darkness and see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Until Next Time.
PROTOADVENTURE 