Back Into Darkness

I step out into the night to resume my schedule of overnight shifts. Though it has been just a week away, I have gotten used enough to sleeping in darkness that it is an adjustment. But, then, isn't most of life an adjustment of one sort or another?

The doormen, both at home and at work, welcome me back. I have had my requisite pre-work nap (not to mention a week of catch-up sleep). Perhaps nothing really prepares a person, but I have done what I can, even if my face says otherwise.

And then I arrive at my work station. And somehow, what has felt abnormal on my trip to work begins to feel normal, maybe even more normal than my days on a vacation time clock. Staying awake all night may not be easy, but it is the job that my body currently knows, and there is an odd comfort in that, as if I am a peg, finally returned to its proper hole.

My life in darkness will not last forever--it is simply a step along the continuing path. But for now, it is a step into familiarity. And sometimes, that which is familiar becomes that which is comfortable. Even when it's far from the place you thought you'd be--and the time you thought you'd be there.