A far away light shining in the darkness.

@Hatley (163781)
Garden Grove, California
January 10, 2010 10:39am CST
This was triggered by another discussion on a completely different topic but reminded me of an odd feeling. We were living in Tempe Arizona at the time, and had to go to Chandler to talk to someone about a job for my husband. Something about landscaping, its been so long now I don't remember just what, but we both remarked that there was a lot of dark open space along the highway yet off to one side in the dark was a far off light. As we moved closer I could see the dim outlines of buildings, a farm aways back from the highway. But It struck a chord in me this light shining in the darkness, as though beckoning someone home. My question is have you ever seen something similar that touched you in some way? I mean I did not know how lived there or anything about them, but the brave little light shining in the vast darkness struck a chord in me. I know, I know , I have a wild imagination but surely others have got that feeling at times, at least I hope so. don't want to be the only weird one here on mylot.
6 people like this
17 responses
catdla1
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
10 Jan 10
I know exactly what you mean, Hatley. When I still lived in New England where one is sort of cocooned in rolling hills, I wouldn't have understood what you meant. But living in Oklahoma, that has changed. When we visit my husband's sister, the route we take goes through great expanses of wide, open, flat areas. Coming home at night, especially on a cloudy night with no stars or moon, it's like driving into a void of darkness. A pinprick of light can be seen for miles and is so welcoming. It's like having a lifeline to grasp, preventing us from driving into oblivion.
2 people like this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Jan 10
hi catdla1 yes it seems like the road just goes no where in the darkness and yet there is this light saying oh there are people living here, you are not alone after all. So many places in The US have these vast expanses where there is nothing, and so dark at night when you are driving.
2 people like this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Jan 10
hi yes it is, I still remember the northern lights when I was a kid , and looked out the wind, this strange colored lights sweeping across the sky and it was so cold, bone chilling cold and dark, and our house seemed like an oasis as I watched the sweeping colored lights going across the sky. gorgeous sight.
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catdla1
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
10 Jan 10
Those same places that are so solitary when it's truely dark, can be spectacular during meteor showers, sunsets/sunrises and of course thunder storms. It's a trade-off I guess, right?
1 person likes this
Opal26
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
10 Jan 10
Hey Hatley! I don't know for sure if I have ever felt this exact feeling or just read about it in a book! But, for some reason I got this "familiar" feeling when I read your description! But, then again it was like something out of a Novel! I guess even if I didn't experience it, which I believe I did when riding home from a concert that was way up out of the way New York it felt very real! I also have a very vivid imagination too! I do sort of remember when I went with my the girlfriend and her girlfriend to a "George Carlin" (RIP) show travelling on many dark dirt roads with nothing in site for mile and every now and then we would see a light shining in the distance, as you described and I remember thinking how it probably was a farm off in the distance! I had mixed feelings about how people could live so far away from everything!
2 people like this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi opal thats sort of the feeling I had, wondering if they liked being out so far from civilization or did they like it and how were they doing.Were they young and just starting to farm or an elderly couple just settled dpwn on the farm in their golden years. I have a vivid imagination too and could invent stories from the light in the darkness.I grew up on a farm but we were only about two miles from town,a small town called Newell in South Dakota.I loved living on a farm as it had so many places for a kid to ezplore and I loved helping pick strawberries and watermelons. of course I did not pick them as my grandpa put these big melons in his wheelb arrow and took them up to our farm house.He always let me ride on the melons. lol
2 people like this
Heather Echola
@GardenGerty (157486)
• United States
10 Jan 10
I know just what you mean. I also get a similar feeling when I can look up and see the stars in a deep black night. It is like the whole earth is saying "come on home". It is a hard to describe feeling, but it lets the whole universe come in.
2 people like this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi gardengerty yes that was it, come on home, that light was left on to gude some one who was loved to find their way home to them. a nice idea anyway and maybe I was right too. It was always fun to go for drives with my husband.He was always following along with my thoughts like that so he never made fun of my romantic ideas. We never had a lot of money but we enjoyed each other and too the cost of gas back then was very low.
1 person likes this
webeishere
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
10 Jan 10
Up North at the farm the Northern Lights shine brightly. My mom passed away many many years ago; yet one night, when near the farm, I saw the Northern Lights and they seemed to light up just the farm, as if to highlight that mom lived there. No other farms were lit up to me just moms. It was kind of inspirational to me in a sense but knew it was just a rare occurance. Or was it? Hmmm? HAPPY POSTINGS FROM GRANDPA BOB!!~
2 people like this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Jan 10
Hi Grandpa Bob as I read that that same thought occurred to me too. I have seen the Northern Lights, but to see them light up just the farm, maybe that was sending you a message,even though it seemed just a rare occurance. There are things we just really do not know, I do believe that. happy postings to you too.
1 person likes this
dragon54u
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
10 Jan 10
I've seen things like that and you're not weird, just blessed with a wonderful imagination. The last thing I saw that inspired me like that was a sunset. I was coming home from my dad's house a week ago and there was a farm off in the distance in the west. The sun was setting and it was an achingly lovely orange/pink/flame color against a soft blue background. As it sank into the blue/silver clouds behind the farm (I had pulled over, of course!) a fountain of light rose behind the farmhouse and it looked as it it were exploded with joy. God's wonders are truly miraculous for all who care to look and see.
2 people like this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Jan 10
dragon54u this made me think of one night when we slept on the beach on memorial evening and watched the sunset across the pacific ocean. it turned all these wild gorgeous colors then made a path across the water like an orange roadway to the sun that looked as if it were sinking behind the water, really lovely and also eerie too.
1 person likes this
trruk1
@trruk1 (1028)
• United States
10 Jan 10
I was a long-haul truck driver for many years and my favorite runs were the ones that crossed the Western deserts and mountains. Sometimes I would see one light shining way off in the darkness. Just that one light visible and darkness all around. I would wonder--Who are they? Why do they live way out there? How do they live way out there. I often made up stories about the people who lied in such an isolated place. Imagine how you treat a trip to the supermarket when it takes two hours to get there. If something breaks, you need to fix it yourself. On a very cold night, it was like that light symbolized a warm place in a vast, cold wilderness.
2 people like this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
10 Jan 10
hi trruk1 you do understand so I am not so weird after all' yes its so symbolic I think of home in the dark and a light left on for you, whoever you may be. I was thinking the same thoughts. wondering if they liked the farm life, whey they' were way out in the tullies. I think it got to me because I was born and raised on a farm in South Dakota.
1 person likes this
Kowgirl
@Kowgirl (3490)
• United States
10 Jan 10
I don't think that's weird at all, I think that at some time in ones life everyone will experience that feeling. I have many times. Just recently while driving alone from my daughters(500 miles, non stop)on a long stretch of deserted, dark highway I was happy to finally see a tiny speck of light in the distance. I was beginning to feel like I was the only person left on earth. As I got closer I could see it was a house with a light outside that lite up the long driveway to the front door. I guess some people like privacy because there were no neighbors for miles. It's like a long time ago when people would leave a candle in the window waiting for a loved one to return. It seems as if light has a meaning of safety, life and love.
1 person likes this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi kowgirl yes light is a symbol of safety life andlove. Some one is being guided back to that housein the vast dark ness. Maybe young people or again an elderly couple. Maybe he went for an errand and she 'really did not feel like going but she wants him to return soon and safely too.
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MsTickle
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
13 Jan 10
Four years ago when I was living with my Dad, I would quite often be working a late shift and getting home after midnight sometimes. The big shed where the cars are parked is some distance from the house. Dad would always put the light on in the shed when I was late and it was like a beacon that I could see for quite a distance before I actually arrived home. There were some nights when it was a welcoming sight indeed. The problem being of course when I arrived home I had to turn out the light which left me in total darkness for the walk to the house.
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ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63233)
• United States
11 Jan 10
I have seen things like that Driving to Houston one time I was on a long dark stretch of road and there was one house all decorated up to the nines for Christmas - very festive in the dark landscape
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Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi ElicBxn to see things like the light in the dark house or a home all by its lonesome all decorated up for Christmas always warms my heart and makes me sort of proud to be an American where we all are free to live wherever we chose and build whatever we choose.We all have lots of choices and we should all be thankful for our freedom.
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TheRealDawn
@dawnald (85130)
• Shingle Springs, California
11 Jan 10
I have had that kind of feeling before, but right now I couldn't give you one single example.
1 person likes this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi dawn wow I am so late getting back here, I do not know what happened as I usually do not make a discussion then not respond to it.I think this was when my doctor had me on those steroids and they made me so ill.I know this feeling is sort of hard to put into words as it is complicated but the light way off the road and so far from a town really did intrigue me.
Wendy
@jerzgirl (9226)
• United States
11 Jan 10
I'm the same way. When I was driving across country or on road trips at night and would see lights on in lonely houses and wonder what it would be like to live there. I love farms and I love seeing farms just sitting out there with no tall buildings or city around them and imagine what it would be like to live free of heavy population where the air is clean, the neighbors are quiet and the scenery is serene. A very romantic setting, in the poetic sense.
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Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi jerzgirl Its that little light shining so br avely in all the darknness that makes you wonder who is there and fo thy like living on the farm, and do they have children,and are they avle to get into town for shopping and maybe entertainement?Farms are great to greow up on and live on as long as you also close to a town or small city so you can also have some culture in your life and also buy the things you do not grow on a farm.Besides one should be among other people at least some of the time. Most farm people tend to help.I remember going to the round up with my grandpa and sleeping in a friend's basement. we had rides to the roundup to watch all the regions cowboys ride wild bulls and wild horses too..
2 people like this
jdyrj777
@jdyrj777 (6530)
• United States
10 Jan 10
I remember when i used to travel alot by car. Alot of times driving at night. It would be so dark when the moon was not full. You can see the cities and towns by a lit up dome from far away. The larger cities a big lite dome and smaller towns a smaller lite dome. It was pretty cool.
1 person likes this
Heather Echola
@GardenGerty (157486)
• United States
10 Jan 10
I specifically remember how Albuquerque looked at 10 pm the first time I was driving into it. Life was a huge adventure, I was a newly wed headed for a state I had never even visited (California) and a brand new life. Here was this town in the mountains on our way, just glowing.
1 person likes this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi gardengerty and jdyj777 I loved Albuquerque althought I never been able to really stay there but I saw enough that I loved the city. and Taos where the artists live. anyway I was going home and home after all was all that I wanted to see at that time;but this time my husbad and I were both romantics and we loved the idea that light being left on to spur on a loved one who was out working somewhere and she was waiting up for him to come home.
1 person likes this
PeacefulWmn9
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
11 Jan 10
I've absolutely gotten those same feelings, Hatley, and in similar circumstances. The light from a home or a plane in the sky or the moon. Something about the dark is comforting...as long as there is a bit of light somewhere. Karen
1 person likes this
dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
12 Jan 10
When I was younger, I had friends that lived out in the middle of nowhere. There were no other houses around where they lived and there were no stores, streetlights, or any other light noise out that way. When I was going to their house it was usually in the evening and as soon as I could see the light from their home it felt like it was beckoning to me. I live in the city now and there is light noise everywhere that I go. My own home does not beckon to me, but I do remember their little house on a farm in the country with a certain fondness because of that illusion.
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Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi dorannmwin yes we had been enjoying just being together and that light shining in the pitch black night really beckoned to me and my husband made up several stories of why they lived there. He was born and raised in walla Walla Washington so he knew not much about farms.I was rasised on a farm and its great for a kid as there;s so much to do and say.I was newly pregnant and scared and excited too as it was to be my first baby so I was making up stories about a young pregnant farmer's wife who lit the lamp to get her husband to hurry home.
bonnie
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
15 Jan 10
Many times when i lived in florida with my daughter way out in the middle of nowhere,I felt and wondered if others saw this light from our porch shining in dark night, if they wondered why someone would be way out there alone and what a sight if we went somewhere at night and coming back down the lane to see that little light shining out to show us home. a couple times when i went outside at night to walk coco id see deer run out of the yard that was one of the few things out there that gave me awe and made me think of what beauty God had given us. you have a wonderful imagination like me. why didnt we become great novelists?
suzzy3
@suzzy3 (8342)
•
13 Jan 10
I know what you mean when we were younger we lived in a place that the buses did not run to ,two miles to the village.A further half a mile on to the school.In the winter walking home from school the last street light was the dark track behind our house which went through farm land.We used to walk as fast as we could through the darkeness then across a field ,then we saw the lights of our house and then it was great as we were almost home,as we walked towards the light in the bitter cold and rain we felt a wonderful feeling as the light from our kitchen shone out through the darkness.That little light gave us so much comfort.Home at last.
monojdhole
@monojdhole (200)
• India
10 Jan 10
The light of hope thrills every human being. There is nothing like permanent darkness in life. There follows a day after a dark night. The value of light is actually realized for the existence of darkness. The same feeling was experienced by us when we were traveling through woods in the darkest night in last October. At the far end of the road we saw a thin light. As we approached to find at the end of the night a farmer with a candle has started his work long before the time of first day light.
1 person likes this
Patsie Hatley
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
9 Dec 10
hi monojdhole I think the contrast of that small light shining through the pitch blackness made me wonder about who lived there way out in the country,no stores around and twenty miles to chandeler. Were they 'onely did they like farming, and why right there? So many things like that make me want to make up a story. lol lol.
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