Below the Horizon


I am participating in the 1000 words and a picture.  To learn more about the 1000 words and a picture prompt and to participate, click here.

For the 1000 words and picture – the word options this week are:
Trees,
Below the Horizon,
Hidden.

Trees, well, I briefly touched on this with a previous picture prompt with our evergreens, so I’m opting not to go with this one.  Hidden, it does have a delicious sound, something enticing about the word, ehhh, but not this time.  “Below the Horizon” ~ “Sunrise, Sunset, Is this the little girl I carried?  Is this the little boy at play?  I don’t remember growing older.  When did they?”  I love that song and now, it’s stuck in my head.

I’m going with “Below the Horizon.”  It sounds poetic, doesn’t it?  When I see a pretty sunrise, I can’t leave it alone.  It’s rare for me to be without my camera and thus, I take a picture.  I might not ever share the picture, but I have the sunrise.. for that second in time, I captured God’s canvas..

When someone uses the word, “Twilight” – very often people think of the sunset to dusk time.  But did you know it’s also for dawn to sunrise?  According to wikipedia, “Twilight is the illumination that is produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, illuminating the lower atmosphere when the Sun itself is not directly visible because it is below the horizon, so that the surface of the Earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark.”

The below picture was taken soon after my husband and I got married.  I told my husband, “I want to go somewhere to take a good picture of the sunrise.”  I didn’t want telephone poles, wires, rooftops, etc, in the picture.  He said he knew the perfect place.  Man, he was right!  He drove us to the Bonnabel boat launch.  The sun rose over the water.  And no, I didn’t adjust colors.  The water was THAT golden, just before the sun rose.  It couldn’t have been a more beautiful morning!




I’m fortunate to have a wonderful husband, who also loves watching the sunrise and set.  Our morning walks and even the evening walks are relaxing times for us and I look forward to them.  Just recently my husband said to me, “See why I love this time of day.”  He is SUCH a morning person!  But I get it.. we can take our baby for a stroll in the neighborhood, feel the cool on our skin, not worry about the morning commuters trying to make up for sleeping late.. it’s a time unruffled. 


There’s nothing like starting the day with the stars in the sky and watching as the sun peeks through and seeing all the colors in the clouds… each moment starting the day off with subtle changes in the sky with a gentle rise.

It’s magical, almost as if the earth is blushing, those pinks and light reds.  It makes me think of a dream state, you know the type of dream where you are walking in a mist and you don’t know where you are going, but there’s a sense of tranquility that seeps into your skin.

I think as we get older (some call it the “twilight years”.. while others call it the midlife crisis… I think that all depends upon the state of mind), we start to appreciate the days.  Each day, each new day….

My grandmother is in her late 80’s and she told me that she says a prayer every morning.  Thanking God for giving her another day.  Sometimes it’s so easy to take life for granted.  We get preoccupied with the rush of schedules and stress of deadlines.  Instead, it’s a good idea to count the blessings, starting with the break of day.

Sunrises and sunsets are bookends to our days.  Our body responds to the light and in the light, we are able to do various activities.  Between the twilight, we live.  The calm morning sun is a wonderful way to share a walk with our son, because such a greeting to the day reminds me of the miracle of life… of the miracle of our son.  And the sunset, the other bookend, how quickly the time passes… it’s there as a reminder that each day is not made to relish in quarrels or animosities… you know the old saying, “Don’t go to bed angry.”  There’s a lot of truth to that.  Resolve the problems during the day, sleep well and rise peacefully to the twilight on the next day.

With all the chaos and instability in life, the one thing that soothes the soul is the predictability of dawn.  Change brings such turmoil in our lives, yet it is something we can count on… but the sun… it gives us a cycle, a day, a calendar, a hope… that we have more chances… the refreshing faith that we have another day.

“Sunrise, sunset… swiftly flow the days…. Seedlings turn over night to sunflowers..”

And how quickly the bookends of life will flow for my son as he grows.  I’d like to slow down the hours in a day and soak in my time or even stretch the stars twinkling in the sky so I can still hum the lullaby “twinkle, twinkle little star”…

I do admit though… each morning I’m greeted with my own sunrise found in my son’s smile.  It surpasses the golden hues in the picture and is warmer than the noon sun.  Every night I have the fear of most parents, his safety and concerns of SIDS… placing my son’s care in faith and prayers…

When the sunrays barely touch below the horizon, know that I’m receiving a big warm hug and beautiful smile to greet my day.  It’s just incredible..

“sunrise, sunset”
“Sunrise, sunset”

in his eyes…  those pretty blue eyes, just like his Daddy’s.  The dark sky blue, the shade of twilight, no wonder I love that time of day.


 (P.S. Had to add this next picture - sunrise taken this month.  I know - lovely - showing our canal water, but still pretty :)





Comments

Deb R said…
Beautifully written! I, too, am a sucker for a breathtaking sunrise or sunset and have tried repeatedly to capture them in pictures...I could fill a coffee-table book with the images, but it is no substitution for the real thing!
Oh, Aleta, this is a beautiful, beautiful post! I love every bit of it.
I am partial to sunsets, myself, because I am NOT a morning person. =) But as a night shifter, I do get to see some lovely sunrises sometimes on my way home, and I do appreciate them as well.