There's Still a Sunset...

Today, for the first time in a long time, I watched a sunset that brought me to tears. The tears may have been in part caused by my weakened physical state from the run I was on while I watched it or by my equally weakened emotional state from lack of sleep and from several difficult adjustments/ transitions I'm in the midst of making, but no matter what state I was in, there is no person who could deny the heart-healing and breath-taking beauty of this particular sunset. I noticed it after tackling a rather difficult leg of my run. My mind was focused on my heavy breathing and my aching muscles and the want to just be at the top of the hill, when suddenly *woosh*, it all went quiet and I had to stop and appreciate what was in front of me. Just above a small, faded white house, above the green tree tops, burst pinks and oranges and warm golden yellows. The sun was just set enough that you could look at it without hurting your eyes, but not so gone that the intense and bright colors had disappeared below the horizon with it. It was all I could do to stay standing while feelings of awe, gratitude, joy, fulfillment and a sense of the bittersweet coursed through my body. Why must joyful and wonderful things always end so beautifully, like a lovely summer day? It is to make you forget it is ending? Or help you remember what was so beautiful about it in the first place? But this sunset helped me realize something. I realized that no matter how much your heart aches, or your mind spins, or the fact you seemed to be weighed down by things wherever you turn, there's still a sunset that can make you cry, there's going to be a friend who remembers how to make you laugh, there's going to be someone who never forgets how to love you, a favorite song will come on at the perfect moment, and there's still joy and beauty in the seemingly mediocre moments of everyday life.