All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser.

By Blaney Pridgen

Maybe you were like me when we were little children.  I was afraid of what might be under my bed.  This happened only at night in the dark.  I would not let my hand hang out from under the sheet and over the edge of the mattress.  Whatever was under there might grab it or bite it.  Next morning, I would feel foolish to find nothing more than a teddy bear or softball resting among the dust bunnies.  No monsters or snakes.  And maybe you were like me when we grew older.  I was afraid in my imaginations of what I had seen in horror movies.  Dracula or the werewolf were not under my bed.  He was in my bedroom closet.  The door was cracked.  There in the darkness that unseen something was lurking, waiting to come out at three in the morning not seven with the sunrise.

Maybe you are like me as a supposedly mature grownup.  Nothing is crouching under my bed or lurking in the closet, but something is on my mind as I try to get back to sleep.  That something might be worries or memories or bad things done or good left undone.  These are the midnight monsters of big people.  They usually go away in the light of new day.  If they don’t entirely go away in the day, they are at least moderated by our coping skills, faith, or preoccupations with whatever is on that list of things to get done.  Then the night falls again and the door to the dark recesses of our minds is cracked.  Out come the zombies from the darkness.

If you are like me, here’s my modest wish for our new year.  In the middle of the dark nights of our souls, let’s trust that morning always comes in some form or another.  And let’s go ahead and let our hands hang over the edge of the bed.  When we reflect on the night before, we often find that nothing was there after all.  

Best wishes for a less scary new year.