Growing up in Brooklyn, I honestly don’t think I ever really saw a sunset. Even at the rooftop of our brownstone there were always buildings blocking the horizon.
In the city, life isn’t centered around catching the sunset.
It’s centered around brunch!
or happy hour…
or what time a show starts…
or an event at the museum…
or getting to the park early to reserve your spot on the lawn for a free concert…
People gather in the evenings during sunset, but not to see the sunset.
We talk in groups looking at one another. Not at the sky.
We come together to interact, laugh, socialize and engage with each other (and to people watch).
Here, it’s different. My whole life surrounds the sunset.
Even the sounds around me.
The sounds of crickets, cicadas, and birds are all timed around the evolution of the sun.
Here, every evening between 5:30-7:00 I am trying to decide where I want to position myself to see the sun set.
Do I watch from my study?
Or my porch?
The living room couch?
Maybe, I hurry to the car and drive to watch from the nearest beach or pier?
Most times, there’s no effort because no matter where I am, whether I’m in the car driving to the supermarket or buying fruit at the market, all I have to do is look up , and I can obseve the sky change.
It’s so easy.
Accepting that I can see the sunset every day is at times overwhelming.
When I first moved here it took me months to put down my phone, to observe in silence, and to watch for more than a few minutes.
The ever-changing colors, shapeshifting clouds, and vastness of the sky made me feel small and insignificant.
But now I feel connected…
It took practice to allow myself to receive the beauty of the sunset and what it made me feel.
Watching the sun slowly lower in the sky brings me this incredible sense of balance and calm.
I feel wonder, joy, healing, curiosity and peace.
I feel like I am healing from my grief…
My feelings are like an alphabet soup of emotions and sensations (all the good ones).
I can be having the worst day ever and somehow the sunset will be the close to the day, that I needed to make me know that tomorrow will be better…
Sunsets are inspiring, otherworldly, and something I hope I can always look up at and enjoy for the rest of my life.
Liosuelo 