On Wednesday December 13, an amazing thing happened. The sun came up. Not so amazing, you say. I beg to disagree. If you were up between 7:00am and 7:45am, in my neck of the woods, and happened to look out your window or were in your backyard or your car or were out dog-walking like I was, you’d know exactly what I mean.
It was beyond breathtakingly beautiful.
The view from earth to sky was spectacular. Not your average regular everyday occurrence. Although the sun does rise every day. But not like this. On Wednesday it made a spectacle of itself. A real show-off. Exhibitionist. A peacock flying in the sky. Absolutely bow-worthy.
I was impressed. And apparently so were many of my family, friends, neighbors, and everyone who witnessed it in the South Island. If only I’d had my phone with me. That’s what I kept saying as I walked through the streets of Esquimalt. There were a few places where I just stopped and gazed upwards. It was in these locations that I framed the scene in my mind’s eye. Through the naked Garry Oak branches that reached with gnarly tendrils to the clouds that billowed and gathered above like cotton candy. At the entrance to the parkette down the street, above the small grove Garry Oaks. Above the mossy rocks and tangled leaves. By the water’s edge.
I missed all these opportunities to take a photo. But so many of my Facebook friends and family did capture the awe-inspiring beauty that shone with such reverential grace in the whisper-quiet early morning hours. What a blessing to our community.
As spectacular as the sunrise was, it was the reaction to it that touched my heart the most. It reminded me once again, just how connected we are as human beings. That in the face of something so magnificent, so other-worldly and benevolent, yet extraordinarily ordinary in a way, that we all paused and took a moment to appreciate and bear witness to the beauty and wonder that is above us all the time. It’s ever-changing (just like every living and growing thing inhabiting the earth below) but remains a constant. Imagine that.
This was a personal reminder to me to appreciate the connectedness and dignity of my fellow travelers here on Planet Earth. And that no matter where we are, or who we are, we all live under one sky.
Look up.
