It was one of those days sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas where time seemed to blur and days rolled into one another like waves crashing on a shoreline. I was sitting in my car between doctor’s visits, checking my email and making work phone calls. You know the feeling when your demands are loud, time seems scarce and there is nothing you can do to change either variable? Well, that was me, and it was drastically affecting my mood.
Off in the distance, I distinctly heard music between my phone calls and my whirling mind. Where was it coming from? A man stopped in front of my car on a sidewalk, distracted by something, but what? Another phone call ended, and the last email was sent. I paused, sighed a deep sigh, and still, I kept hearing it. It was music, and the man in front of my car had only moved a little further along his path. So I decided I would investigate where this damned music was coming from.
Now more curious than annoyed, my car door shut with finality as I walked down the sidewalk. Twenty feet ahead stood the most colorful covered bridge. Was that the source of the music? A lady walking by passed under its arch not by chance but purposefully. My feet carried me to follow in her footsteps. Sure enough, the happiest Bayou music erupted from this covered bridge. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine anyone listening to music from the heart of New Orleans and not feeling a little like dancing.
That is when my senses came alive, and I had to find an explanation for this obvious and intentional distraction. It took a moment before I saw unlit lights hanging from a tree nearby, art intended to light up at night, a gingerbread scene waiting to be discovered under the twinking night stars. And then I realized I was standing in the middle of a light show. Luckily for me, I had many more hours to kill in Santa Rosa, and it would be already dark before heading home again.
My mood lifted, my spirit heightened, and my day turned happy as I could hardly wait to return to see the magic after sunset.
Many thanks to Sutter Health and the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts for creating such a beautiful display of winter lights. Thank you, most of all, for turning a gloomy day into a bright, happy day for me.
This free light show continues every day from dusk to 9:00 pm daily through January 20th. Let the spirit of the holidays continue!
Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
50 Mark West Springs Rd, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
The light show is directly behind Sutter Hospital’s medical building
