Day and Night

I wake the world up with a gentle, golden glow. I paint the sky in bright blues and warm yellows so you can run, jump, and play outside with your friends. I make the flowers open up to say hello. Then, when you start to get tired, I slowly pull a soft, dark blanket dotted with sparkly stars over the sky. This is my signal for you to get cozy, listen to a story, and rest your head on your pillow. I am the reason for your first big morning yawn and your last sleepy snuggle before you drift off to dreamland. You see, I am the world's oldest and best game of peek-a-boo. Hello. My name is Day and Night.

For thousands and thousands of years, people watched me come and go, and they wondered all about me. They saw the bright sun travel across the sky, and then they saw the silvery moon follow after it. They needed a way to keep track of me. Way back in ancient Egypt, around the year 1500 BCE, people built special clocks called sundials. These clever tools used a little stick that made a shadow. By watching the shadow move across marked lines, they knew when it was time to work in the fields, when it was time to eat, or when it was time to go home. For a very long time, everyone thought the Sun was the one doing all the moving, like a big golden ball rolling across the sky. But then, a very smart astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus had a brilliant, world-changing idea. In the year 1543, he wrote a book explaining that it isn't the Sun that moves around us. It is our planet, Earth, that is doing the moving. Earth spins around and around like a spinning top. When your part of the world is facing our bright, friendly star, the Sun, it's daytime for you. When your home spins away from the Sun, you face the dark of space, and it's nighttime. I'm not two different things—I'm just one big, beautiful dance caused by our spinning planet.

My daily rhythm is a special gift for everyone and everything on Earth. I am a pattern that all living things can count on. I tell the yellow sunflowers when to lift their heads and the sleepy flowers when to close their petals for the night. I let the owls know when it's time to wake up and start their hooting, night-time hunt. Most importantly, I give you a time for learning new things at school and playing tag in the park, and a time for dreaming sweet dreams and resting your body so you can grow strong. Every single time I bring the sun back into your sky, it’s a brand new start. It’s a chance to be curious, to be kind, and to have a wonderful new day. So, hello morning, and good night, sleep tight. I’ll always be here, spinning right along with you.