The Wonder Of A Sunset

On this beautiful, sunny and warm Friday the outdoors called to me constantly.  I had to ignore that call as I was stuck indoors most of the day, caught up in the minutiae of making a living.  A battle of wills between me and the world that I won, although it was a battle that, on this wonderful spring day I wish I had had the luxury of being able to lose.    

After work I drove out to the Valley to visit with coworkers, and do what people across the country do on a sunny and late Friday afternoon - drink beer out on the patio in the back yard, sit in the warm sun, eat a burger and talk of plans for the weekend.

I am signed up to take an all-day emergency preparedness training seminar tomorrow.  All day today I waged yet one more internal battle - whether to attend this training that seemed like a good idea to sign up for a few weeks ago, or skip the training altogether and head for a trail somewhere.  

On this clear Friday (with the prospect of yet another sunny day tomorrow) being stuck in a classroom on a Saturday did not seem like such a great idea...... 

On the way home I stopped while still in the Valley, to take pictures of a very small lake surrounded by mountains.  This lake is located right in the middle of a busy residential area - a small and very beautiful green space.  On this evening it was full of people walking, playing on the playground equipment, riding their bicycles, and (in one case) out on the man-made lake in a small rowboat.  A quiet place in the middle of a busy space......

In the center of the park is a plaque and flag pole - a place to remember and to reflect on those who died on 9-11.

My youngest son has been in the Air Force for 3 1/2 years, and has served two tours in Iraq.  When he was a senior in high school he started receiving the same calls my oldest son had also received all the way through his senior year.  The recruiters of all branches of the military doing what recruiters do.  Making the calls, making the promises, pushing to get my boys signatures and have them sign their life away to their country for a few years.

My oldest son always knew that he wanted to go to college.  But my youngest son wanted to join the military.  And in his senior year I talked him out of it, and talked him into going to college instead.

He did go to college, and floundered on campus lost and unhappy for two years. 

Then one day he called me while I was at work and told me that he was at a recruiting center.  I think he called me to feel me out - to see how I felt about it now, to see if I would try to talk him out of it again.  I didn't.  I asked him what branch and he said Air Force.  I didn't ask him if he was going to join up.  I just asked him to come see me at work when he was done and I would take him out for lunch.

A few months later he was in San Antonio TX going through basic training.  A couple of months later I was in San Antonio to see him graduate. 

In just a few months he moved from a boy unsure of what he was going to do with his life or where he was headed, to a man standing tall and feeling good about his decision.

I have watched these two boys in awe over the past few years as they have successfully moved from boyhood to manhood, and have watched proudly as one graduated from college and one graduated from basic training.  They are carving out lives for themselves, and learning how to make their own way in the world.

One of three young boys who were sometimes taking turns and sometimes rowing together in this small boat on this small lake in the middle of Alaskan suburbia.

Close to home I paused for a few minutes at an overlook on Glacier Highway.  How could I not?  When I stopped to take these pictures I suddenly realized that I had seen very few sunsets since I arrived in Juneau. 

I have stopped at this overlook many times.  Sometimes when it was cloudy and rainy, sometimes when it was foggy and the hills and mountains were completely obscured.  I have stopped in the snow. 

But sunset at the overlook is yet one more unexpected gift that Juneau gracefully hands to those people willing to pause for just a few minutes along the highway. 

Today it was a gift for me.

When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator......Mahatma Gandhi