Come Look at the Sunrise with Me

A simple moment of beauty to start my day.

“Dad. Dad.”

These were the first words whispered into my ear this morning, courtesy of my four-year-old.

I slowly opened my eyes, awakened from a deep sleep, to find my daughter’s eyes about six inches from mine.

“Dad. Quick. You’ve got to come look at this.”

As a parent, this could mean anything. There could be a giant bug crawling in her room, or her entire closet could have collapsed. Still finding my vision, I asked, “What is it?”

“It’s the sunrise!”

Her room faces the East, so catching a beautiful sunrise is nothing new for us. But this morning, something about the colors caught her eye, enough to come and wake me up before either of our alarms sounded.

“Come on, Dad!”

I reached for my glasses on the nightstand, nearly knocking them to the ground. I got out of bed and started walking towards her room.

As I walked in, my daughter had the biggest smile on her face.

“Dad, look!”

I opened the blinds to peek out the window, and as I looked, I found deep purples and oranges embedded in the sky. To be honest, it was a relatively normal sunrise, so one minute into my day, I was curious as to what made today the day she had to wake me up to show me.

“Isn’t it beautiful, Dad?”

It was beautiful. I had the warm and fuzzies, just like her, but likely for different reasons.

As my daughter started her day, she peeked out her window to find a sunrise that spoke to her. Instead of watching it by herself, she wanted to share this moment with me. As the recipient of that gift, I couldn’t be more grateful.

She and I spend a lot of time staring at the sky, looking for stars, and studying the moon, so the thought process of even thinking of me at that moment warmed my heart like a sunrise is meant to do.

“It’s beautiful, Si.”

Sure, the sunrise was beautiful, but my heart was set on the moment. Sharing life’s greatest moments with the people I love most is what I live for.

“Take a picture!”

I walked back to my room to grab my phone, then proceeded to take the worst photo through the blinds. It was blurry, out of focus, and generally failed to capture the contrast of the colors.

“Can I see?”

I laughed and said, “Of course.”

She looked at the photo and began to smile.

“It’s beautiful, Dad.”

It sure is.