Sunset

At Avenue U in Seaside tonight, I stopped to watch the sun sink into the ocean. A handful of others held quiet vigil with me from their cars, balconies, and driftwood perches.

Even though the sun sets every day -sometimes with brilliance and others with simplicity- in those moments I feel awestruck. By our smallness. By its consistency. By how much has happened since the last one.

Pair that sense of wonder with the scientific theories about the sun, our planet, our galaxy... And then that sense of our connection to it all...ALL of it, all of us. All. The effect of such thinking minimizes my worries and causes a swell of discomfort and inspiration that is best savored in silence, reverence, humility.

Sunsets used to make me pine for the chance to experience the image that commercials and movies portrayed where the hunky fella hands the foxy lady nestled next to him a swig of his Miller or bite of his Snicker or sip of his Reunete. But now, sunsets are like resets. Resets where I hand myself an opportunity to swig some courage, bite with more appetite into this life and living it, and get drunk on gratitude for all that's been experienced/loved/understood/shared/given.

So tomorrow, I'll greet my sophomores with new resolve with plenty. When the sun sets, it sure gets dark fast.

"Run toward the darkness and shine!"