Sunsets

I strolled along the beach this evening, and watched the sunset. I stood in awe of the spectacular explosion of nature’s most brilliant colors displayed across a canvas of sky.  As the sun sank beneath the horizon, all around me the sky changed into fiery shades of oranges and pinks and then reds and yellows. The waves quietly lapped the shore and a light warm breeze touched my face as I stood there on the soft sand, as a witness to this wonderful phenomenon.

At that moment, I remembered as a child walking along the warm tropical beaches with my father, at dusk, just as the sun was about to go down, just in time for the sunset. As we made our way to the beach, he would select a long stick from the many tossed about in the grass. Once on the beach, he would stop every now and again, and draw out multiplication tables on the sand, to help me memorize them. I was always distracted. The sunset had begun, with its incredible colors emerging, splashing themselves above and all around us. I would hold my father’s hand tightly.

There are few things that remain unchanged in life. Life brings many uncertainties. Our memories and feelings linger but we grow older, as do our parents, and our children grow up. Everything seems to change. But sunsets, they never change. You can always count on the certainty of a sunset.  Every evening, we can stand in awe of the sunset.

I watched from the beach as my father held my daughter’s hand tightly as she led him across the uneven rocks down to the beach. He stumbled slightly as he reached the sand, as he seems to lately. He walked towards me as my daughter ran off beneath a crimson sky, toward the quiet waves lapping the shore. I once again walked with my father along the sun-setting beach whilst a light warm breeze touched my face.