THIS ORDINARY THING

I wanted to give you a rainbow.

I wanted to give you a sunset tonight. 
I wanted all of us to share it, 
this ordinary thing. 

After sitting at the computer answering emails and telephone calls all day, I drove to Ala Moana Park. It's a place I've gone thousands of times over my lifetime. And yet today was different, perhaps because I had been away for awhile. I had just gotten back from a wonderful tour of Northern California, complete with standing ovations, flowers and warm Gathering energy. So perhaps I was missing all that. Perhaps I was missing my morning dip in Lake Tahoe, the Pine scent of La Honda or just the freedom of having an open road, a rental car and a credit card. Or perhaps it was because Paul wasn't here, and I was missing him too. Or maybe it was because I was tired of doing laundry. Maybe it was all that that made this sunset different.

I parked in a rather busy lot on Magic Island, and immediately felt a warm end of day hub bub of walkers, strollers, runners and folks on skaters. These were island people talking and relaxing and exercising at the end of a work day, just like me. It felt friendly, as if everyone were on a mission to shake off the uckiness of the day. Here we were all to celebrate Miller time, it's a primo kind of day, bodies by Bud. The soundtrack was Motown summer tunes and jazz ...

A cool ocean kissed breeze immediately hit my face as I stretched my ankles on the curb. As I began my walk, I noticed how calm I felt. Here I was on the edge of the Pacific at dusk with nothing to do but walk. And so I walked, stretching out my body, and feeling the feel of the place. As I wound through the paths to the edge of the ocean where the waves hit the rocks below, I took a deep breath and the sight before me took that breath and cast it out to sea. Here I was presented with the most glorious sunset, the one I want to give to you and save for myself. 

My first thought was, "How do I capture this? Describe this? There are no words. " And of course it is, so you'll have to use your imagination for even a digital camera would not be able to capture this beauty. No, nothing mere mortal, only the mind's eye can see this one:

A great expanse of blue,
from the deep sea blue of the ocean just in front of you 
to the baby blue rectangle stretching across the horizon line 
just above your outstretched hands. 
A great big descending ball of orange in flames 
(that sounds better than a flaming orange). 
Not the Sun Kist orange, 
a little darker in hue with fire in its soul. 
Add neon to soft pink wisps
that sometimes turns florescent the closer you get to the sun
surround it with thin long clouds. 
At the edges, pink blends to purple 
paint brush clouds hang here and there to gentle effect, 
just above the glimmering streetlights and palm trees below in the distance. 
The canvas shifts to darker blue as night falls and stars awake. 
The full moon begins its climb across this vast, and deeply colorful creation, 
hear the sound of waves crashing 
and smell cool sea air,
and perhaps there is an orchestra in the background playing.
Be at peace,
Be at peace,
Be at peace.