Waiting for the Sun

There is nothing more symbolic of hope and renewal than sunrise. All things seem possible in the presence of the sun’s impossible beauty. When your world is in turmoil the simple truth in knowing the sun will continue to rise is healing.

Due to an unexpected winning raffle ticket at last years gala for Hospice of Orange and Sullivan, I earned enough to treat myself to six weeks in a beachfront condo on the southern end of North Carolina. I timed my stay to coincide with the coldest, darkest Hudson Valley winter days from mid-January to late February. Each day I woke well before dawn and took up a vigil from the couch. Yes! The view of the eastern sky was right outside the sliding glass doors to the deck.

There is something so primal in greeting the sun as people have done for tens of thousands of years all over Earth. From my wide-open vantage point of the sky, I could see the curvature of the earth as the morning light appeared on the horizon. One morning a crescent moon shimmered low in the sky. A powerful cloud array lit up a fresh coat of snow on another.

The color palette was a new surprise every day. I took many, many photos to etch those colors in my memory. The soundtrack of this light symphony was the roar of the breaking surf. It took about forty minutes from first peek to sun up while I listened to the waves and watched the birds. The pelicans often photo-bombed my shot. After so much anticipation, the orb of the sun pops into sight as a sliver and explodes into full-on piercing light in just a few moments, quickly becoming too bright for human eyes.

As you face stress or hardship, I urge you to look to nature as a balm. Whether you take a moment to wonder at the small majesty of a spring daffodil bloom or the vastness of a starlit sky, I believe it will soothe you as these sunrises have soothed me.