Priorities

I knew the odds were in my favor. After several years of watching for the signs, I’ve developed a keen eye for the way the sky settles down for the evening. I was simply working in the yard and noticed the clouds forming nicely and knew that I would likely have a beautiful sunset fall into my lap shortly.

So, at the appropriate time I grabbed my running gear and headed out for an evening jog, but first stopping at my favorite spot along the Port Royal overpass, which has an unobstructed and elevated view to the west. Over the past few years, I’ve snapped hundreds of photos at this very spot, capturing some stunning sunsets along the way, and occasionally catching a few, like this one, that rise to the level of sublime.

I believe the reason for this note, apart from showing off what I witnessed tonight, is to let anyone who cares to know that this was not an accident. I didn’t just stumble across this. The reason why I have these photos, as well as hundreds of others is because it’s a priority, and it all goes back to a line I read years ago from an epic Tom Robins book titled “Skinny Legs and All”, where his protagonist, an artist named Ellen Cherry, recalibrated her priorities after her long, bumpy adventure, “…beauty is just going to be my everyday thing”. And with that, I found a lifelong mantra. The three photos above were taken perhaps 3 to 4 minutes apart, so you can clearly see the evolution of the cloud movement. But once I felt the best had passed by, I moved on to begin an evening job.

Now here I wish to ask you to check out the two photos below. I had just begun my run and was positioned at the crest of the highest spot in the area when I happened to look back over my shoulder and realized the western sky was still providing encores, so I briefly stopped to take it all in and snap the first photo. Then perhaps 15 minutes later, after I had circled back and was finishing the last half mile, practically in the same spot as the first, I saw the remnants of that glorious sunset giving its last curtain call for the evening for anyone still in the audience.

The point I wish to make here is this……. put yourself there with me, placing yourself fully in the moment there on the ground with me, expanding these one dimensional photos into the full 360 degrees of real time. Now imagine how I felt, sweating, my heart pounding, gulping in the cool evening air…and having this gift present itself as I finished my run. The degree of ‘aliveness’ that I felt at that moment, submerging myself in the pure sensation of it all….. pierced me to the marrow.

Here is the upshot, we have no idea how much time we have here. For me it could be 30 years, 30 days, or 30 hours. There are no guarantees, so I’ve made it my priority to squeeze all the beauty I can into the time that I do have…. because that is my everyday thing.