~and I was blessed, that's how~

With little more than 3 1/2 days left of 2016, I once again cannot imagine where the days went to.  One day it's early January and you forget to write 2016 on your checks and then before you know it, you are counting down the last days of the year.  All in the proverbial blink of an eye it happens and there is little we can do to change it, save for one thing.

Enjoy each day that you are given.

I turned 61 this year and just typing those words makes for a somber feeling.  I can remember being 16, then turning 21, and every decade year thereafter.  How did I get to be 61 years old for crying out loud?  

I was blessed, that's how.

The older I have become, the more I have slowed down a bit, although my family and friends still maintain that I'm on the go too much.  Yet I know in my heart that I don't do near what I used to.  I still have a huge amount of fires burning but not as many as I once did.  You know something?  I kind of like that.

Slowing down a bit has given me great rewards in my later years.  One of those benefits is noticing all of the beautiful sunrises and sunsets we are given each and every day.  I still chase them, those color shows that the sun puts on for all of us.  If I'm in the car, I pull over in order to get a great view and with camera in hand, I always take a picture.  I've even been known to set an alarm in order to wake up and head outside.  They don't last long, those beautiful exhibitions, and a person has to get a move on in order to see them in all of their glory.

Once, several years back, I found the most beautiful sunrise one summer morning.  I was back home in Kansas and just a few miles south of Highway 50 on the Yoder Road.  I parked my car along Eales Road and waited for the sun to come up.  It didn't disappoint me and as it arose, I kept snapping picture after picture in order to get the best one.  

In my mind, I did just that.

Once someone asked me how I would know that a particular sunrise or sunset would be the most beautiful of them all.  I had to think a minute on that one, but I did come up with a reply.

"The most beautiful ones are those that make your heart content and at peace.  You could find them in the company of others or you might encounter them in your own solitude. Don't worry because when you see them, then you will know."

My heart was most content that early July morning in 2011, and thus there it was.  
~the most beautiful sunrise on earth~

I've seen many other gorgeous ones since then.  Our home in the Colorado mountains provided the backdrop for many of them.  Even in the freezing cold weather, I was out there taking pictures of them all.  As a matter of fact, sunrises and sunsets in the dead of winter are some of my most favorite ones.  There is just something about them that sets them apart from all of the others.  A few of my favorites out of many are shown below.

~sunset up on Cerro Summit~ (Colorado, 2014)

~sunrise shrouded by fog near Elgin, Oklahoma~ (2016)

~sunrise just outside of Big Pasture Elementary in Randlett, Oklahoma~ (2016)

~sunset in Altus, Oklahoma~ (2015)

As the years come upon me, I have determined myself to get rid of the things around here that have little or no meaning to me.  I have given away much to my children, donated some to charity, and the rest just literally gave away to anyone who needed it.  It makes me happy to begin the journey of "traveling light".  Too much stuff is cumbersome and it sucks the life out of those who have to take care of it.  The years that remain for me here on this earth will be spent enjoying the very important things that I do have left, special treasures like my family and friends. 

And while I'm at it I'll be looking for other things, ones that are free and ever changing for those who desire them.  

Things like sunrises.  
Things like sunsets.