Waiting for the Sun

I am quite certain there are many others, perhaps millions of people, who thoroughly enjoy and appreciate sunrises and sunsets as much as I do, dare say some maybe even more. The only person in my life that I know for certain who so unequivocally loves them as much as me is Derek. I’ve enjoyed watching his adventures from afar meeting new friends on his travels around the world.

While I haven’t seen as many from as many places as he, some do jump out, having left an indelible mark upon my memories.

The sunrise in Varanasi particularly stands out, when Derek and I rowed a boat across the Ganges, walking up the sandy beach coming upon an elderly gentleman moving from one yoga pose after another, a brilliant orange sun rising behind him, its colours matched by the yogi’s garb.
A sunset in Koh Samed, a tiny island off the Thai mainland gave us a spectacular array of colours saying goodbye to that day, not to mention Derek and I.
Over eleven years ago, I accompanied my parents to Kanyakumari in the southern most tip of India, in Tamil Nadu, watching the sun rise behind the gigantic 133 foot stone sculpture of Tamil poet & philosopher Thiruvalluvar.

Both India and Thailand has given me countless sunrises and sunsets. They’ve only been exceeded in quantity and matched in quality by its California counterparts, both in Santa Monica and in San Francisco. My twenty years in Chicago came to an end when I drove 2800 miles to my new home outside San Francisco. Along the way, I camped under a super moon in Moab, UT. A couple years later, I road-tripped from Sausalito to Washington DC, and along the way met with Joe & DaveRisner at Canyonlands, UT and saw that same moon rise yet again. Arguably even more epic than its CA counterparts, the sunrises and sunsets in Utah marked special moments in my life highlighting immense change, captured by awe-inspiring beauty of the desert. I am truly blessed.

Derek’s entre into the evenings and mornings have given us glimpses into Iceland, Spain and Morocco, each one seemingly more brilliant than the last, though in reality all stunningly beautiful in each their unique ways. Just goes to show that starting and ending each day with the sun and moon, appreciating the simple pleasure of a seemingly simple event, gives us perspective and provides us a foundation to be thankful for everything else. I worked for a man two decades ago that always answered the question “how are you?” with the response “any day above ground is a good day.”

Seems like a good way to live.