I have never been to Greece but I hear that Santorini is one the most beautiful places to watch the sun rise. A naturally saturated landscape of color and the arrival of light after dark, brings to my mind the exact sentiments akin to dawn – arrival, newness, birth. Awaken. This vision is sure to be much different than those from my earliest experiences of that moment in time when the sun’s rays begin to light the earth before it actually rises. In Nevada, the sky is so vast that as the sun filters in to highlight the landscape you have to turn in circles around yourself in order to take it all in. To not miss a single color or cloud or charm.
Spinning in that exact circle recently, I stood with my dad on the hill above Soda Lake to watch the sun rise not only on Easter Sunday but also during a lunar eclipse which was a rare announcement to this year’s very grand arrival of spring. It was a sight to see – the bright full moon in exact opposite of where the sun promised to rise. Distances impossible to guess except for the color clues as mountain ranges hundreds of miles away are defined in slices of light.
Yet amidst all of that majesty my dad and I contemplated the existence of Soda Lake instead. Soda Lake is scientifically referred to as a maar because it was created when a meteor hit the earth. The unique impact smooshed up just one side to provide the hill we were standing on that morning. When the lake was first discovered in the 1850’s it was found to be rich in soda minerals and was processed for big money well into the turn of the last century. The final company to process the mineral was out of business by 1908 after the water level mysteriously began to rise, diluting the soda to less desirable amounts. Today, divers seek out the alien desert lake to visit the bottom where old manufacturing equipment still lives. Or father and daughter visit to seek out the truth of the day before the sun decides on it.
The chronology of Soda Lake’s existence groped at my thoughts that morning – the miracle of impact. Once a barren scrape of desert and then, BOOM! – A deep bowl full to the top with wealth and beauty. An oasis in the desert. I for so long had been pining for a great and mysterious impact from the stars to awaken me and fill me full. So that I might have my own proverbial dawn. And yet it was actually happening for me – in every meaning possible as I stood to witness, exist in and celebrate it that Easter morning but most importantly – in the meaning I needed from it the most: that my spirit is re-awakening to my life as I begin to recognize a path I finally want to walk on. The one that will lead me, to me. New again after a dark night.
AWE 