Susquehanna Sunset

As I was driving the John Deere this Friday night, trimming the fenceline of our fields, I looked up and noticed the sun was setting over the treeline and I caught my breath. The stunning beauty of the cloud formation in the sky, the dusky oranges and yellows and pinks seemed to hover in the air...watercolors sliding through the sky. At that moment, I was so glad to be alive and witnessing the quality of the light, that I turned off the tractor and just sat, watching. The next thing I noticed was the high pitched chee of the barn swallows who were skimming the grassline of the fields, catching a late dinner of insects, filling their bellies with protein for the long night ahead. I knew I couldn't sit there on the yellow seat until dark...I had a job to finish before I lost all the light, but I was so thankful to have taken that two to three minutes to just be present in my environment.

Then, Sunday evening, after a trip to the Conowingo Dam and the Union Hotel with my youngest children, my husband was driving us back home over the bridge when I hung myself precariously out the passenger window to grab this glorious sunset on my iPhone. It was breath-taking. The summer warmth, the low-in-the-sky sun, the reflection in the water...just perfect. And I remembered to be thankful again. And present. And aware. It is in moments like these when I am surrounded by nature's splendor that I feel the seeds of hope blossoming in my gut. One day I will be better. One day. Until then, I will grab on to these stolen minutes of being completely present in my environment and waiting for the next sunset.

Hoping you all had a wonderful weekend and are beginning the week with some gratitude of your own.  xo