Who's Afraid of the Dark?

I was lying in bed a few nights ago--trying to get to sleep with all the ambient light from the street flooding my room--when I remembered something that I had totally forgotten about my childhood.

My night light.

I remember needing a small light on top of my dresser to calm my fears while trying to get to sleep. This seems strange to think about now, because I really prefer to have the room completely pitch black now. (I even cover my alarm clock readout with cardboard so it doesn't stare me in the face all night.) But back then, there was something calming about being able to see what is or isn't sneaking up on you while you lie unprotected in your bed.

But was it really all that helpful? I seem to recall that the same light that was supposed to be comforting was actually casting all of those menacing shadows across the room. I seriously wonder now if the same light that was banishing the monsters in my room to the shadows was actually causing all the problems in the first place.

I can't remember when I actually stopped using a night light--whether I decided it was unnecessary because I didn't believe in monsters or (more likely) I was just getting old enough to be embarrassed that I used one. Either way, it's strange how you can totally forget something like that....