Thursday Thirteen # 11

From Fiddler on the Roof:

Sunrise, sunset - Sunrise, sunset, Swiftly flow the days, Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset - Sunrise, sunset, Swiftly fly the years, One season following another, Laden with happiness and tears

Here are just thirteen of the sunrises and sunsets I have witnessed.

1. After an all night, frantic journey to reach the base in time, I've seen the sun rise up out the Atlantic Ocean while standing on the beach outside a little motel in Florida, with a two year old in hand and a baby in the warmer, a month away from birth, while my handsome, Navyman got assigned to his new boat.

2. Standing on end of Huntington Beach pier watching the sun dip into the Pacific Ocean while eating the biggest and best hamburger in the world, and fishing.

3. Standing on the mountaintop in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, the eastern sun casting long shadows through the cedars and redwoods while fixing trout for breakfast.

4.On the shores of Lake Michigan I've watched the sun rise up out of the lake after a night of camping with bears.

5. I've basked in the sands of the North Shore in Hawaii, as the great ball of fire touched the warm South Pacific waters turning the mountainous waves into pure gold.

6. I've watched the midnight sun in far away Alaska as it dipped every so briefly below the horizon and then rose up again. I've also seen it rise at nine in the morning and set at three in the afternoon.

7. I've stood breathless watching the sun come up out of the sea in Kailua, and Laie on the island of Oahu; atop the Pali where I could see both sunrise and sunset.

8. I've stood in the middle of windswept prairies seeing both sunrise and sunset unobstructed.

9. I've watched the famous sunsets while strolling hand and hand with my lover on Waikiki beach.

10. I've stood atop ridges in the Great Smokey Mountains and watched the lazy sun rise gently through a blue haze, turning it briefly golden.

11. I've witnessed sunrise after sunrise on the long car trips from west to east coast, and sunset after sunset on our trips from east coast to west, over two dozen times that I can remember. Yes, I've traveled Old Route 66 before it was old, many, many times.

12. I've seen the sunset over the Grand Cannon, The Great Salt Lake, Yellowstone and Yosemite.

13. I have stood on high cliffs on the Oregon coastline, watched the dazzling sun set as whales played in the cold waters off shore; and in the same place, watched the setting sun, at times consumed, eaten entirely by fog, as though it had never existed.

I've seen many more sunsets than sunrise only because I am not a morning person. But I love the earthly stillness as it rises above the ocean, lake, mountain or prairie, when all of nature holds it breath for one brief moment. What a joy to have eyes that see!







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