Calm After the Storm

We had a storm last night. I'd sent Nicholas outside to clean up the backyard, and he sheepishly opened the back door and said, "Do you still want me to clean up the yard? It's hailing or something." I hadn't noticed. I looked up through the sky lights. Sure enough, it was hailing.

It hailed for a little while, then started to snow. God was teasing me, letting me think we had just a little bit more of winter left. The skies blackened. Then, just as quickly as it moved in, the storm was gone. The sun came out. The sky turned back to blue. The dark clouds moved on.

When I took the kids to get dinner, I could see the darkness heading towards the horizon, towards the west where the sun was beginning to set. I had to take a picture (or 30). I drove the kids (complaining all the while) up to the top of Skyline Drive, up to the Mount Baldy base. I walked out onto the snow (slush) and started snapping pictures. There were others with me there, admiring one of the last sunsets we'd be able to see before 10 pm, before the nights get so long they flow seamlessly to dawn, only a brief dusk separating night from day. The sunset was amazing. The storm clouds looked like they were going to gobble up the sun as it was setting, they were dark and ominious. But, just where the Sleeping Lady lay on the horizon, the sky was clear, undisturbed but for a few clouds. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking. As the sun descended below the horizon, a lone paraglider dipped across the sky, right into my camera's view finder range. I had to capture him in flight.

The Sleeping Lady lay undisturbed by the approaching storm, man could fly, the trees were budding with the first promise of life after a long winter, and I felt like I was ascending somehow. All was right with the world at that moment.

I love Alaska!