I have always loved sunsets. Up until my senior year they were one of my favorite aspects of nature. Sunsets, like snowflakes and fingerprints, are each unique. The sun never sets the same way twice. The light it leaves behind as it disappears on the distant horizon changes each and every day.
As the sunset on graduation night, I couldn't help but look back on all of the wonderful memories I had made up until that point. It was hard to say goodbye to those wonderful years filled with late night runs to 7-11 for Orange Bang, awkward school dances, high school crushes, etc. That night after all of the festivities were over we ended up underneath the bleachers on the high school football field. It was the perfect place to end the night, and an even better place to start the day.
Most of my friends had fallen asleep but I had stayed awake to see the sun rise slowly above the Wasatch Mountains and fill the western half of the valley with warmth and light. As it got higher and higher the light made it's way to the east carrying with it all of the hope and anticipation of 'the first day of the rest of my life'.
Since that day, sunrises have gained a slight advantage over sunsets. The contrast in their symbolism is as different as night and day and they are each the more beautiful because of it.
The following song articulates the idea better than I can:
"I think over again my small adventures, my fears,
Those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing.
To live to see the great day that dawns.
And the light that fills the world."
(Inuit Song)
As you see the sun set today and think of the days events, look to the sun rise tomorrow and all of the possibilities it carries with it.
As the sunset on graduation night, I couldn't help but look back on all of the wonderful memories I had made up until that point. It was hard to say goodbye to those wonderful years filled with late night runs to 7-11 for Orange Bang, awkward school dances, high school crushes, etc. That night after all of the festivities were over we ended up underneath the bleachers on the high school football field. It was the perfect place to end the night, and an even better place to start the day.
Most of my friends had fallen asleep but I had stayed awake to see the sun rise slowly above the Wasatch Mountains and fill the western half of the valley with warmth and light. As it got higher and higher the light made it's way to the east carrying with it all of the hope and anticipation of 'the first day of the rest of my life'.
Since that day, sunrises have gained a slight advantage over sunsets. The contrast in their symbolism is as different as night and day and they are each the more beautiful because of it.
The following song articulates the idea better than I can:
"I think over again my small adventures, my fears,
Those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing.
To live to see the great day that dawns.
And the light that fills the world."
(Inuit Song)
As you see the sun set today and think of the days events, look to the sun rise tomorrow and all of the possibilities it carries with it.
WAS I really awake for this?? I distinctly remember being awake...But I'm old so I may be looking at graduation night through rose-tinted lenses...
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure you were awake...then again, I'm getting so old (not as old as you) that I don't remember that well either. I should have been better at keeping a journal.
ReplyDeleteDear Travis,
ReplyDeletePlease write on your blog more, I miss it greatly X 10! That's a lot. You're awesome, I hope your day is rocking your socks. If not, let me know and I'll leave you a phonular message with a phoney accent and/or some sugar cookies that I'm making for this weekends partayingness. Love you! S.O.L. :)