I'm a Sunset Girl

I love sunsets.  LOVE them, especially on the water. When we are on the left coast, we drop everything and head to the beach to watch the sunset. My mom lives within walking distance of a great beach. I think there's something kind of magical about living like that, where you can hear and smell the ocean when you go outside and walk down to it whenever you want to. Sigh...

It's not that I don't enjoy sunrises. I do. It's special to watch the sun come up on a new day, full of new opportunities, full of promise. I like the pre-sunrise, where the sky lightens and then gradually takes on the colors of the day.

But it's sunsets that really take my breath away. Like a kiss at the end of a day. A seal on another day well-lived, a stamp of approval on life.  I love the colors and the gradual disappearance of that big ball of fire which seems to not move at all until you look away for a moment and look back to find the sun much lower on the horizon (or setting the water on fire, as my guys like to say).

Now, some people have said that I must be a pessimist to like sunsets more than sunrises. Their point, I believe, is that an optimist would look forward to a new day (sunrise).  While I've never stood in line for an "I Love Mornings" t-shirt, that doesn't mean that I lack optimistic tendencies. I just prefer sunsets over their morning counterparts. When I see a sunset, when I take the time to really watch it and contemplate its beauty and meaning, I am humbled at how small we are and, at the same time, exhilarated at how much God loves us to give us such beautiful color in our world.

Yep, I'm a sunset girl. That's how I roll.