I AM a Light Lover

It’s funny. The hubs and I go through times where we disagree on certain things.

Like when we first moved into our townhouse when we were first married and he wanted a chair we had in a certain spot and I wanted it in a different spot.

Because we wanted it in two different spots, we had a few weeks where he’d move it in the spot he wanted and I would move it back to the spot I wanted.

I thought the spot he wanted was in the way of the walking in from the front door. So instead of just walking in, you’d have to walk around it, which to me, was a pain and honestly, it just looked SO out of place! But for him, he thought it was the best spot for that chair ever! Ha!

Well, 14 years later, we can still have our disagreements on where furniture should go (thanks to all of our military moves and having to start all over again in a brand new house!), but the one thing we still very much continue to disagree on is certain lights in the house…especially when it’s the holiday season!

I love having our Christmas tree lit the entire time we are home. He doesn’t. So he’ll turn it off during the day and I’ll turn it back on (he’s slowly come around with this, but there’s still times, especially when we have just put the tree up) over and over again.

Then we have the outside lights on the house.

He wants them to come on right when it gets dark…like pitch black outside.

I like to put them on around 4 or 4:30, because it’s starting to get dark outside and I want to be all set up and ready to go for the evening and nighttime.

Since he doesn’t agree with the time of the day I turn the lights on, we end up having many, MANY, light (OFF and ON!) wars, which, again, means he’s turning them off and I’m turning them on…over and over again! Ha!

During the year I like to turn all the cozy lights on around the same time…4-ish in the winter and 5-ish in the summer and close the shades.

It’s usually the living room, the kids bedrooms and the master bedroom and bathroom (because the kids freak out if their room or bathroom is dark and I don’t like walking into a dark room or bathroom when I’m trying to put away laundry or get the kids ready for bed and everything else that comes my way when I’m taking care of our two kiddos while D is still at work (and not at work!).

And, not only that, I just absolutely LOVE when I have all of our cozy, dimmed lights turned on once the sun has set (we have the Philips Hue lights which let me dim them to the coziest setting on my phone or through Alexa!) and I walk in a room and it instantly calms me…especially after a long and busy, multi-tasking-filled-mommy-day!

It’s SO nice having one less thing to think about during the craziest time of the day…when dinner has to be cooked, homework has to be done, showers and baths need to be taken, lunches need to be made for the following day, laundry may need to be done last minute and sibling fighting is at its worst!

I know…I know…it’s easy to just flip a switch on and off when I walk into a room, but when I have them lit and set at the perfect dim setting and the house is ready for the evening and night, it’s SO nice having one less thing to think about AND the lit cozy lights just bring me SO much comfort and make me feel SO good as my busy and stressful mommy-filled day is starting to come to end!!

Since him and I disagree on this, and since him and I pretty much spend all year turning ON and off the lights to the way we want them, I call him a Light Nazii!!

So the other day, when I was telling him, yet again, “You’re such a Light Nazi!!” after him and I were turning ON and OFF the outside Christmas lights the other day…

He had the day off of work, so at 4 o’clock, like I always do when he’s at work, I went outside and turned all the outside lights on. Well, he went right back out there and turned them off.

OMG!! This had me all in a tizzy because I’m not used to him being at that time. So we battled those lights for about 20 minutes while I was cooking dinner for us.

and once I said, “Light Nazi!” I thought and said to myself, “You know what I am?? I AM A LIGHT LOVER!!!”

“YES!!! I AM A LIGHT LOVER!!! How come I hadn’t thought to say that before!!?? OH MY GOSH!! YESS!! I LOVE IT!! HA!!!”

And then I thought, “Ooooooo….I’m doodling that!! YESS!!!!”

Now…I don’t love all lights…I’m not a fan of the blueish white LED lights…the light has to be soft, warm and cozy (lights that don’t make me squint or say UGH! Turn them OFF! TOO BRIGHT!..Ha!).

And, I get it…I know why he prefers to keep lights off for as long as he can because he doesn’t want to waste electricity.

But for me, when the end of the day is near and I’ve been running around like crazy all day, doing 50 million multi-tasking mommy things, there’s nothing that makes me FEEL oh, so CALM than having all of our cozy lights ON right when the sun starts to go down.

And for me, the way I FEEL means more to me than just a few more hours of electricity being used.

It’s been 14 years since D and I have been doing this, and I don’t think we will ever change. Ha!

He has dealt with my LIGHT LOVER ways a lot better than he used to. And, at times, I do give in and let him have his way, but, for the most part, when the end of the day nears, this mama NEEDS her LIGHT LOVING ways to shine bright, because it’s one way that makes me feel OH, SO GOOD after a long and stressful day.

Here’s to loving soft and cozy light at the end of the day!!

And to loving my Light Nazi man…even though he drives me nuts with his Light Nazi ways…I still love him oh SO much!!

If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have any soft and cozy lights up in our house!! That’s for sure!!

Cheers!!

Until next time…

Why do I hand letter uplifting words? Because it easily calms my mind, ignites my joy and slows me down so I can BE a more calm, happy + present mom (something that's hard to do when my mind is running five miles ahead or behind the present moment...especially during summer break!) and truly focus on what matters in my life and all the GOOD that fills it!