When Was the Last Time You Watched a Sunrise?
About the time I was getting the idea for my new Seahaven Sunrise series of women’s novels, I was staying at my favorite place in Maine- Ogunquit. I happened to wake up early one morning and stood out on the hotel’s deck as the sun rose directly over the sleepy ocean. The last time I had watched a sunrise was probably during my college years!
I was deeply moved by the simple power of witnessing the beginning of a new day and continue to rise early whenever I’m in Maine (and sometimes when I’m at home) to participate in that miracle.
Also, about that time, I synchronistically came across a quote from author and prolific online personality, Alex Elle. It had already become clear to me that sunrises would play an important part in Feathers in the Sand, as well as the entire series, so this was the perfect quote to place at the beginning and end of each book:
The sun will rise and set regardless.
What we choose to do with the light while it’s here
is up to us.
Journey wisely.
In Feathers in the Sand, Aunt Kit tells Eva about the time her fiancé (Ollie) died forty years ago, and how Ollie’s mother helped her to grieve by taking her to watch sunrise after sunrise, instilling in her the will to welcome each new day again. In her sorrow, Kit begins to find her way back to herself, and back to Ollie’s light which still lives inside of her. In this way, sunrises begin to become an important part of the landscape of the characters’ lives.
So tell me, dear reader… have you watched a sunrise lately? What do sunrises mean to you? What are you doing with the light that you’ve been given?