The Bat Cave

We have had bats in our life. They were living in the attic in our old house in Connecticut. And I didn't know it until today, but we've been living in a cave for the last 7 months. The office. The family room. The Master bedroom. The living room a.k.a. Sinjin's playroom. These were all rooms in the house that didn't have any overhead lighting. Without really realizing it, we had come up with all sorts of behavioral adaptations or lighting solutions to cope with the lack of lighting. We simply didn't venture into the office all that often. Instead, the Other J and I fought over the laptop in our down time. As for the family room and playroom, we opted for these hideous plug-in wall sconces that were a pain to install and although we were in denial about it most of the time, were undeniably hideous. Besides, we'd both catch Sinjin tugging on the cord with curiosity from time to time.

Today, I spent a long day of confinement to mostly two rooms with the energetic Mr. Sinjin while the serious and silent electrician worked on the overhead lighting issue. He arrived at 8AM and left a little after 10PM. I'd inwardly cringe as I'd look over into all the dust and debris that were gathering in the two downstairs rooms where he was installing some recessed lights. And I sighed a little when the Other J came home and told the electrician to go ahead and re-work the wiring and the switch for the new fan/light combo. But. It was totally worth it to go from room to room and flip the switch and see everything bathed in light. The Other J and I couldn't contain our rapture:

"Oh! It looks so good!"

"It's so bright!"

"It's the best home improvement money that we've ever spent!"

"Why didn't we do this sooner?"

"We've been living in a cave!"

Ah. No longer. Daylight Savings Time has begun. Chez Js -- the NJ edition -- is no longer a cave. Maybe we have left the long, dark days of winter behind us.