Picture In Worth A Thousand Words

“Let’s go watch the sunset”

“Let’s go watch the sunset,” my sister said, grabbing my hand. We get our bikes and set off down the dirt path. The chatter of French kids and the crunching of our tires serenades us towards the beach. The ground underneath us becomes sandy and the trees get shorter and shorter. We turn up a sharp hill and all of a sudden see the whole ocean in front of us. My sister sets her bike down and starts running down to the water. I start walking behind her. The sand is cold under my bare feet but it feels nice after the long bike ride. I found somewhere to sit and watch my sister play in the water.

As I sit I allow myself to dissolve into the moment. The cold sand on my toes and the warm breeze pushing hair across my face. The sun starts to set. Warm pink colors begin to emerge behind the clouds, like a child playing peek-a-boo. The child’s hands parted slowly allowing for a rush of color. The color that comes out is muted, the color of an artist’s pastels. But despite the muted overcoat the colors are numerous as the sun slides down the horizon. Shades of pink-ranging from a deep red to that of a light flower, blue too that seems to blend well with the pink forming a unique purple.

The colors reflect into the tide too, like lines of morris code the sunset seems to duplicate itself into the sand. The sand is porus with ridges and hills that match the waves of the previous days. I run my toes over these dips smoothing them out. As I peer at the sand I notice a small jellyfish, it’s body is a translucent membrane that matches the sunset as well. I pick up the jellyfish and return it to the waves. As it floats off I notice a group of surfers paddling out into the water. They are laughing as they struggle to catch the crashing waves. Their bodies seem to camouflage with the dark water, white boards sticking out like a sore thumb. 

I splash my feet in the water, a cold but refreshing feeling taking over. I look out into the horizon. It seems never ending. To me the horizon is where the known world seems to merge into the unknown. Where everything I have ever experienced seems to merge with endless possibilities. When right now seems to merge with the future. A surfer catches a wave riding and turning with it’s crests. His board slicing the water like a knife through butter. 

“This moment is perfect,” I think to myself. I try to capture it in my brain so as to hold onto it forever. But as the sun continues to dip down I realise that it is my time to walk into the horizon. Right now is starting to merge into the future. I look back to my sister motioning me to come up the sand dune with her. The sun has set and the sky has dimmed. Night has fallen and as I look behind me the reality of that perfect moment sets in. I look back onto my phone at the vivid sunset picture I just captured.