Sunrise

I walked into my office around 7:30 this morning, took two steps in, and came to a stop.  The sky just outside my window was that arresting.

I was the first one in and I had been turning on the lights, but I stopped, backed up, and turned most of them back off.  Then I leaned against my bookcase and stared out my window.  The sky was filled with long, low fingers of clouds that were beginning to burn bright red with the dawn, looking for all the world like fire on an inverted ocean.

I stood there and waited, only slightly distracted by my boss coming in and sliding to the same amazed halt.

Up above the horizon, the more solid wall of clouds began to glow a soft pink as the fingers to the east picked up a brighter orange hue.  The clouds themselves were drifting slowly toward the northeast, spreading like a conflagration until finally the sun itself began to peek through the spreading arms of a tall, distant tree.

I know I’m a bit unusual as a morning person, but this is why.  I may not always get up without a struggle, and I may not do this more than once or twice a year, but I hope I never get tired of taking some time and watching the sun rise.