Sunena Maju

After my workout class today, I was craving orange juice. So I walked to the Trader Joe’s near my place. But, there was a line outside. I haven’t become that big of a TJ person that I’m willing to stand in a line, so I went to the Target nearby, got no-pulp orange juice (I hate pulp), grabbed the high-protein, low-fat, weird-tasting peanut butter ice cream and checked out.

But as soon as I stepped outside, I paused for a few seconds right by the exit door. The sunset was nothing like I had ever seen. Everyone on the streets had paused. People were just standing and looking up. In New York, that rarely happens. Sidewalks are one of the few places where you are really not supposed to stop. They are made for movement and movement only. The closest movie scene I can find to compare it to is one where a surprising asteroid hits the earth and the fire lights up the entire sky, and everyone just stops to look up.
We came pretty close to that collective response today, except with joy.

I took the long route home and took 27 photos of the sunset. And then it came to me: “Watch the most beautiful sunset.” It is one of the things on my bucket list.
I have seen many beautiful sunsets, in many different cities around the world. But nothing had ever made me want to cross that one off. Until today. This was it!

A sunset I accidentally saw while walking home from a Target carrying orange juice and ice cream, on a completely ordinary Friday evening, wearing workout clothes, in a place I now call home, was THE best sunset of my life.

It’s funny. Every time I plan a trip somewhere, I have this thought in the back of my head: maybe this is where I will see the best sunset of my life. And I make sure to see as many sunsets as I can in every place I visit. I always thought it would happen somewhere else. At one of those picturesque locations.

Maybe we run away looking for the most beautiful moments because every day feels so mundane. And then, in those very ordinary days do the best things happen.✨