Confession: I’m not a morning person.  I never have been.  When I was younger, this was quite irritating to my poor mother.

It isn’t surprising to me, then, that I rarely seem to see the sun rise.  (Unless highly motivated by someone I care to see the sunrise with!)  I’m more often viewing it set.  In fact, I have even seen it set now in “The Home of the Sunset”: Key West, Florida.

Yet, my recent trip to Key West provided not just the chance to see the sun set in its official US home but also to see a rare sun rise.  The catch: it was from the small window of an airplane.  It was a beautiful sight that I felt blessed to view.  As the sunrise progressed, it reminded me of a scene from some science fiction movie.  Somehow the view from the airplane’s window took on a very otherworldly feel and it was as if I’d stepped into the books and comics I read as a child or the shows and movies I sometimes watch even now.  Firefly anyone?!

Last fall, I had the privilege of partaking in a sunrise kayak trip and recently submitted a few of those photographs to a post that Monica Wong created on her site.  It was a very memorable sunrise for me.

My airplane sunrise will be memorable in a different way, but no less special.  After all, sunrises are so rare in my life!