It had been my idea to go hiking. It was Kevin’s idea to get up before dawn to go hiking.

I am not a morning person so you can imagine how torn I was: do I waste precious sleeping-in time on a day off or do I get up and go with my husband and get the chance to shoot some sunrise photos? I finally chose the latter. He gave me plenty of opportunities to back out of it, but then then, I was in 100% and nothing was going to stop me. I even called the park ranger to see what the hours were. Did you know that parks open at 4 AM?! My only questions is why?

In strange correlation, I dreamt that night that I woke up late for a flight to Columbus and couldn’t pack my clothes fast enough and the plane would leave without me. When Kevin woke me up and it was still dark outside, I was like, “Whew, we’re going to make it in time for the sunrise.” (In case you didn’t see that correlation, just let it go. I felt it. It was real.) He also made me coffee, which equalled about a thousand points for him.

We went to the Palisades Kepler State Park and booked it out onto the rock bed in good time. The sun was starting to seep into the horizon, slowly pushing away the inky blue and watering it down minute by minute to paler shades. Then, like magic, it beamed over the tree line, warming up the cool, foggy air, splitting the night from the day.

The dew twinkled on the rocks like diamonds and the fog hovered above the water like it couldn’t decide where to go.

For the first time ever, I was so glad to see the sun rise. It was…it was peaceful. We spoke in near-hushed tones like we may interrupt the glorious birth of the day.

Despite how it looks, I did not fall backwards off the cliff ridge.

In moments like these, I could only be thankful.

My brother used to reason that fishing early on a Sunday morning was more spiritual than going to church. I have to agree with him. Because I expected to be tired; I expected to see a beautiful sunrise; I expected to have a fun time with Kevin. What I didn’t expect was to feel so peaceful and calm. It was like a deep exhale through my whole body and my shoulders sank down from my earlobes and my muscles relaxed into organic breathing patterns.

As a disclaimer: that is not Kevin's bag. He carried all of the gear (bag, tripod, two cameras and lenses) because he was afraid I would be a klutz and trip. Unnecessary, but somewhat valid concern.

After we hiked the trails for a few miles, prepared ourselves for a mountain lion attack, and wished for birds to start singing and dancing like Rio (maybe that was just my wish?), we got back to our car, pulled off our muddy shoes to stow in the trunk, and settled in, stocking-footed, to go home to make some breakfast omelets.

Then we found 5 dollars. For real.

Happy Labor Day!

(The post title comes from the song “Sunrise” by Norah Jones.)