Wondering if the door is open~

Hey, a very good "early" Monday morning to all of you friends and family alike.  It's 4:35 in the a.m. as I type this blog post to you.  I had to be sure to get up and STAY up today because it's soon to be time for me to cross off another thing from the "Miller Bucket List"....to redo something from last year that proved to be one of the most memorable experiences in my life...."To see the most beautiful sunrise in all the world."  I did just that, one year ago today on July 16th, 2011.

The following is a reprint of what I wrote that day on my blog post and after I read it this morning, I wanted to reprint it once again.

FROM MY BLOG POST OF ONE YEAR AGO TODAY, JULY 16, 2011~IT WAS CALLED "LESSON LEARNED".


As far as I'm concerned, the "Miller Bucket List" taught me a very valuable today about life and its brevity.  Item #5, "To see the most beautiful sunrise and sunset in the world" is now COMPLETE.  Take a look at sunset, over my  hometown of Haven, Kansas this evening.

Someone asked me one time, how would I know that I had ACTUALLY seen the most beautiful ones? My reply to them was, "I'll just know."  Well today, July 16, 2011, I saw them and they were every bit as beautiful as I imagined them to be.

The saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", pertains to most anything, sunrises and sunsets included.  You might look at my two photos and say, "Nah, those aren't the best.  The best ones can be seen at _____________________   (fill in the blank with your own special spot of the world),  But for Peggy Miller, these two will long be remembered by me as the most special ones I've ever seen.

Hey, here's where the "valuable lesson" part comes in.  I cannot remember one day in my 55 plus years of living that I have paid attention to and actually waited for the sun to come up and then set down again in the evening.  But today I did and the time went by so quickly.

I went to swimming lessons, complained about how hot it was, spent time with a special friend, continued to complain about how hot it was, the did laundry and cleaned house, and made a trip to Haven.....and a dozen of other little things.  And the world kept turning and life just went on.  I had to wonder as I was driving over to Haven tonight, did I spend this day doing what I should have been doing?  My answer came back "yes".  If the truth were known, I don't think I could always have said that.

As I was leaving Haven, I didin't realize just how fast the sun would sink in the west.  I had to hurry to get any kind of shot before it was too late.  And man, isn't that how life is?  That's why I am so frantically and diligently working on this whole list of things to do before I die.  I don't want to miss out on my chance.  And friends, I don't want you to miss out either.

So what was the lesson learned?  The answer is this~For the first time that I can remember, I didn't take everything for granted that came my way today.  I recognized it as the "gift" that it is.  All of us are given just "so" many minutes between the sun's arrival and it's departure each day.  It's a reminder to me to live my life accordingly.

Witha  very thankful heart, I say that today, July 16, 2011 was a "great day to be alive in".  I hope you had such a day as I did.  Have a good night's sleep Facebook friends and family.  Be ready for the next great day...it's coming up before you even know it!

The way the sun looked one year ago today on July 16, 2011 as it came up over the horizon between Hutchinson and Yoder. Today on the first anniversary of witnessing such a magnificent thing,  I'm heading there this morning, very soon, to see if I can find it once again.  I guess there's a 50-50 chance I'll be able to see one like that again.  And my friends, I've lived parts of my life with worse odds than that and am still here to tell about it today.  Have a great Monday, July 16th, in the year 2012.  And whether I see that kind of sunrise in an hour or so or not, it will still remain the greatest of days to be alive!  I know I say that a lot yet rest assured that it is EXACTLY as I see it :)