I hadn’t done a sunrise in ages. I noted that to myself last night and promised that if I could make it work this morning, then I would head down to Lake Parker.
Not having done one has been a combination of a general being overwhelmed with too many things on my plate and also a feeling that over a few months I had done so many, that there was nothing left to shoot.
Morning starts are probably the most overrun aspects of my life, these days. So many little mouths to feed and only two hands to feed them with.
With ten cats and a new batch of possum babies, the pressure is on me from the moment I step out of bed these days. My own breakfast and medicine-taking doesn’t typically happen until that first hour is over and all the little furry guys are off about their day.
So, by foregoing breakfast and forgetting the medicine, I was able to streamline the process this morning and get down to the boat ramp at Lake Parker before the sky started to do anything.
I took the 11mm lens as I think it is a great sky-lens with such a wide view.
Anyway, hope you like what I got and though I won’t win any awards for it, it was still a lovely morning to watch the progression.
Enjoy!
As I stood down there and the men in their boats began their days, I stood at the end of the pier and with the soft breeze wafting gently around me, I breathed in the moment and enjoyed the calm and wondrous start to the day.
That’s what brought this blog thought to mind, actually. You see, I had grown so oversaturated with beautiful sunrises, I forgot how beautiful they actually are. And the joy that they bring to my heart in witnessing.
Why is it that we can “have too much of a good thing” to where we forget how good it actually is?
Getting spoiled is not unique to us humans. I have noticed the same behavior in these little furry guys that live with me. There was a time they would eat anything but now unless it is Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers, and a particular flavor or two of that, you can whistle Dixie trying to get their interest.
I remember thinking about this whole behavioral aspect many years ago when saw some young African kid being almost ecstatic when he was handed a bowl of rice by a charity on TV. Hand a bowl of rice to any kid here in America and they will just look at you, waiting for the rest.
The sunrises here in Florida are so frequently beautiful that they are taking for granted by almost everyone. In all my years of going down to Lake Parker to watch them, I have never noticed one other person there for it. Yes, there have been boaters setting off and an occasional person standing there fishing as the sun comes up.
But the rising sun generates very little awe in the viewers here.
Isn’t that sad.
John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost (from 1667) essentially drove home the point that we only notice paradise when it is taken away. If we find ourselves living in it, pretty soon, we (and our cats) take it all for granted.
I have seen this to be true in almost every facet of life. It is not just where we live, what we eat and drink, what we experience. But, even the people in our lives; we become so accustomed to them that we only truly notice them when they are taken away.
It might be a love lost, or a tragedy that takes someone from us. But whatever it is, the measure by which we love them only truly hits home when they are no longer in our lives.
Life has driven this point home for me repeatedly in the past few years and I still get sudden pangs of loss and grief when I am unable to call my Dad or Mam and share some happening with them. Or maybe I just walk by a picture of them that I have lain somewhere.
And I can’t drive by the train track where Brittany tried to kill herself, without wishing for times long gone with her.
So, I guess the point I am trying to make here is that we should look around us often and see who and what is in our lives and in our hearts. Because one day that may not be the case. The sun may not rise or we may not be around to see it.
Appreciating what we have and who we have, is an essential part of our living. Look around today and breathe in life. And if you see something pretty, stop and appreciate it.
It, or you, won’t always be here to.
… just a thought!
