You and Your Pink Sky
When I was a little girl, we lived close to the beach. My dad referred to himself as “Mr. Ocean Summer Fun,” I mean - what did you expect? We spent countless afternoons, lazily playing in the surf; digging for sand crabs and building castles. The beach was our happy place.
And it’s where I feel most connected to him now.
Spending summer days on the coast, my dad would anxiously await November as it would always bring the pink sky. The cotton candy colors and the cool evenings, November in California is a changing season. It’s the brink of a slow shift from summer to autumn (which truthfully is really just summer part II), it’s the shift form bathing suits and tank tops to cozy sweaters and socks. November and it’s pink sunsets, my dad and his beautiful eyes looking up in to the vastness as his face becomes illuminated with a rose glow.
It’s like I can see it now.
I don’t know where the love for a pink sky came from, but I do know when I see one now, I feel like it’s a message straight from the heavens.
Stop, Look up, Slow Down.
Because I’m a little neurotic and truthfully not all that great at, as Paul McCartney suggested “Let it Be”… I started to think about sunrises and sunsets. What do they stand for? And what does the pink signify? Besides the astounding beauty, why did my dad love them so much? All of the questions that I should have asked. I guess hindsight really is 20/20.
On his one year memorial, I was so hopeful for a pink sunset. I walked down to the beach and sat by the shore in the late afternoon hoping to feel him close. Unfortunately, a pink sunset didn’t appear - it was on the bluer side that evening, but what came to me was the idea of a cycle. A sunrise always turns to a sunset, pink or not. The day begins and that day will end - there is a completion to it. There is nothing we can do to stop a day from ending. Along the same lines, life continues to roll forward, presenting a day after this one and it’s what we choose to do with it that really matters. Maybe thats the message I was to learn… to make it count - My life + his life. To not waste my days/energy/thoughts on things that aren’t as wonderfully beautiful as a pink sky.
There is an element of mystery to watch a day come to an end. The sky turning shades of blue, purple, yellow…And if you’re lucky, pink. It’s compelling to take in the beauty of a sunset, to take in the last breaths of the day.
Is that why we liked it? The sense of completion?
I guess I’ll never truly know the meaning behind a pink sunset, but I will always stop, look up, and marvel at the beauty of a pink sky. And I will always embrace a beautiful sunset as a message straight from him.
