The Sun is Setting

Saying that the sun is setting on a certain part of your life is mostly an understatement. Most of the time we are frantically going here and there that we miss the small things; like a sunset. Before the era of smart phones with built in cameras, I used to carry around a cheap disposable camera and snap pictures of things. I would mostly take pictures of nature which included lots of pictures of the clouds, sunrises and sunsets. This picture is extremely significant because it signifies so much. When I got my driver’s license, my parents told me that I needed to get a job to help pay for gas, car payment, insurance, etc if I wasn’t going to play football; so I got a job at a local grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves. The job was not that labor intensive but my heart was not in it. I enjoyed the interaction with people; and I have made friendships and acquaintances that I value greatly. The downside was that when I walked out the back door to prepare a mop bucket or take a pallet outside, I saw that sunsetting over the wood line and I knew that I was stuck in a big brick building until my shift was over.

It has been almost 20 years since I started that job that lasted for 4 years of my life teenage and then young adult life. I still visit that grocery store as a customer. While going to get some groceries the other night my son Daniel noticed how beautiful the sunset looked behind the store. So I snuck behind the store to get a better look and take a picture. As we turned the car around to head to the front of the store, I noticed the back door that I would stare out of those many years ago. The sky was not bathed in an abendrot hue of an Arizona sunset; but as the sun that drifted down below the horizon line built a scene that made me think about the differences in that sunset and one that I would have seen some 20 years ago. I looked over to my son and thought about my wife. I couldn’t imagine that my life would have been where it is now 20 years ago. It is truly amazing what a sunset can do to betray the feelings that should be in our hearts at that moment.