Sleeping away the night, whether ready to waken or not, sunlight brightens the room, penetrating eyelids closed in repose. Retirement means never getting up to an alarm—strident and insistent, “Wake up! Make ready for another workday. Now it is the gradual departure of darkness, replaced by sunlight brightening the window shade in the cooler months. Now, in the summer, it is sunshine streaming in the window left open to cool the room. A better way to awaken, much as our ancient forebears did, uncontrolled by clocks or artificial light. Thinking back on it now, those vacation days at lake shores, the ocean or the mountains when the sun’s approach portended the awakening that each day brings to me now—missing only the rare beauty of a watery reflection or light peeking through branches.