Sunrise, Sunset
I think the prettiest sunrise and sunset displays are here on the East Coast. The most consistently spectacular are on the coast of South Carolina. Beaufort even has a Facebook page where they post pictures of their daily sunrises. One must be up pretty early to catch the sunrise over there, before the day swiftly flows by! It’s so impressive and majestic the vision stays with me all day. The most beautiful and lingering sunsets in amazing colors are to be seen on Jekyll Island, Georgia, where the color often lingers until dark, as if to make that day last just a little longer.
My most memorable sunset event occurred off the coast of Cape Charles, Virginia, on the Eastern Shore. We were on a pontoon boat in the Chesapeake Bay headed to play on a low-tide sandbar. Our granddaughter Halsey was five at the time, blossoming even as we gaze. She sat in her canopied director’s chair wearing pink Tevas on her feet, sunscreen on her nose, big sunglasses, and a visor. What words of wisdom can I give them? How can I help to ease their way? On the open water seeing the sun melting into the ocean, its descent is a visual experience. Halsey had done this so many times, she knew precisely when to begin her countdown. She watched carefully, slowly raising her finger. Then it was time; she began to count. Ten, one thousand, nine, one thousand, eight, one thousand…like an egg yolk sliding across a greasy skillet, the brilliant sun, a huge orange orb, slid toward the water. She hesitated at one, finger in the air. “Now!” she proclaimed. And it was gone. The sky ignited into an aurora of orange, red, fiery yellows, and purple. Such a sunset pallet I’d never seen before, all across the watery horizon, as if a million suns had fallen and exploded over millions of miles. I’ll never forget that sunset, that moment. And in that memory, Halsey will forever be five years old. No matter how many sunrises and sunsets pass, I’ll always hold her in that precious moment. Wasn’t it yesterday when they were small? What is your most memorable sunrise, sunset experience? Write about it; so you’ll always have it.