So you had a bad day...

I had a bad day yesterday. The morning started off ok, but by mid-afternoon it just seemed like I could do nothing right and both of my children were intent on letting me know it, repeatedly...loudly. By the time Chuck made it home, I was at that point that mothers shouldn't reach--the one where I wanted to march out of the same door he'd just swung open and announce something evil like, "I'm never coming back!"

I didn't, of course. But I did need to escape for a while.

So I laced up my running shoes and headed to the shore, where the lapping waters of the lake always seem to cleanse my soul and renew my spirit.

I was not disappointed.

I ran and ran along the trail until my heart burned in my chest and my throat screamed for a cool breath, and then I walked along the shore all the way to the lighthouse and back. A glimmering half-moon hung low in one part of the sky, while the other was lit ablaze by a fiery setting sun. I drank in shades of fuchsia and umber that I've only ever seen in my dreams. I watched a kite surfer expertly launch himself into the air and thought to myself that I couldn't remember ever seeing a more beautiful sunset in my entire life.

Then I plucked a smooth, round stone from the sand and held it tightly in my fist. I poured everything that had gone wrong that day into that rock and I hurled it into the surf as hard and as fast as I could. Sometimes, letting go really is that easy.

It was definitely the best sunset I've ever seen. It was proof of perfection that had nothing to do with me. Every day I wake up and no one asks me to paint the sky blue, to blow wind through the trees, to teach the birds to sing or the stars to shine. They are all there for me to enjoy without lifting even one finger, and I truly, truly did.

"Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better." ~Henry Rollins