I am a watcher of the sunrise. Most mornings I observe the dawn, coffee in hand, cat at my side, from the cloistered comfort of my screen porch. No great awakening, just light changing from cool to warm as my coffee goes from hot to cold. It’s a time I use to let my brain molecules align and get organized for the day ahead.
I can’t recall when I first became devout about following the first light of day, but suspect it came about during a period of my early adulthood when sleep wasn’t a consideration until the sun had cleared the horizon. Although my job then didn’t begin until after 9 p.m., I never felt comfortable in that late-night lifestyle. I wanted to see the sun rise after the depth of sleep, not the dark of nightclubs.
But I learned from those gloomy years and from subsequent years singed with heartbreak and personal loss. I grew to understand that light does follow dark, just as dark follows light.
This past month has been one of darkness for many of our friends, co-workers and neighbors at The Coastal Star. In our office, the words hospital and hospice, illness and obituary have been used far too often over the holiday season.
Now with 2017 on the horizon, it’s a difficult time for many we know to look ahead.
If words can offer any small amount of solace, I’ll share what I’ve come to know: As long as Earth’s orbit around our sun stays constant, I can pull myself out of bed, pour a cup of coffee and watch the sun rise.
It’s a small thing, but it’s how I’ve learned during tough times to put one foot in front of the other and push through to another day — and now, yet again, on to another year.
Best wishes for 2017.
— Mary Kate Leming, Editor
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