Photo-of-the-Week #71 – Sunset Over The Sound, Duck, North Carolina – March 2008

You know I’m attracted by sunsets and sunrises. So, here is another glorious, late winter sunset I captured in early March of 2008. I have a friend who owns a unique time-sharing arrangement in a beachfront community in Duck, North Carolina. Periodically, when he and his family can’t utilize some of their allocated time at the beautiful four-bedroom house, he makes it available to his friends. Thankfully, I count among those he considers friends and have, on several occasions, taken advantage of his offer.

The boundary island (Bodie Island) where the small resort town of Duck is located is very narrow. Accordingly, the Paine House is strategically located between the sound, separating the island from the mainland on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. So, when I’m there, I have access to both beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I’ve also been there in the summer, fall and winter. I don’t believe I’ve made it during the spring, yet.

This shot was taken just as the sun set behind the tree-lined landscape on the mainland shore on the western side of the Currituck sound. If you look carefully, you can still see just a tiny pinpoint of the direct sunlight just about dead center in the photo. I hope I don’t bore you with these occasional sunset/sunrise photos, but they are very inspiring to me. Each sunrise represents a new opportunity and another glorious day of life on this unique piece of space dust we call Earth. Each sunset represents the end of a day, a time for resting and reflecting on the events and achievements of the day, be they great or small.

During this time of turmoil – economic, political, social and so on – these sunrises and sunsets remind me of the personal freedom each of us has if we choose to exercise it, no matter what our individual, unique definitions of freedom are. Each day that the sun rises (even when hidden behind a cloudy sky) is an opportunity to express ourselves in whatever way suits us and each day that the sun sets (even behind some clouds) we can reflect after a day well-lived, no matter what we did, and can now rest with the anticipation of a new and different sunrise to follow.