Sunsetting You

 

                Paul sat down at his laptop, opened a text file and began documenting every event from his life starting at the age of eighteen. What started out as a basic outline eventually turned into a full autobiography reaching over three hundred pages, every detail, every person, every significant event, and the details of every location he lived or visited. Over the next six months he continued to add memories as they rose in his mind after reading over the long document many times.

               Thrilled and in awe with all that he had accomplished over the past many decades, the many places he visited, the content he created, the volume of information he had learned, and the many people he had positively influenced. Working full time and occasionally taking on a second job to make ends meet, he managed to continually improve his life and the life of his family as they continued to move forward and grow.

               He kept track of how many times he read through the entire document and finally stopped to count that he had read through his autobiography twenty-seven times and after doing so, he began to see a pattern in the behavior of others, a slow decline into selfishness, depravity, dishonesty, and intentional cruelty. When this pattern became clearly evident, he created a second document to catalog all of these events, comments, and felt a heaviness come upon him that left him feeling hollow and disappointed.

               Eventually it all came to a disappointing end, leaving him angry, frustrated, and helpless, knowing that many decisions were made that he could not undo, choices were made to push everything he had worked so hard to create and improve into chaos. Over time more deception, more lies, more cruelty began to emerge until everything was destroyed.

               The breakfast hour began to draw close, prompting him to step away from his computer screen, walk outside, take a seat on his deck and watch the sun slowly crawl up the sky to eventually appear from behind the distant hills. “Wow,” he thought, “if that isn’t a perfect image of what is happening right now. Reality is transitioning from darkness into light, beauty, and goodness.”

               He rose from his seated position on his deck, did a light bit of stretching, entered into his home, put together his breakfast, turned on some light classical music and enjoyed the peace he only just now discovered. Finishing his meal and his hot drink, he placed dishes near the sink, slowly walked through his house multiple times to give his body time to begin digesting his meal. He then changed into his workout clothes, found his trainers, his sweatshirt, his windbreaker, and his gloves in case the temperature was too cold for exposed skin.

               After ten more minutes of stretching, he turned on his exercise app to document his walking distance and walking time, to enjoy the warmth of the new day upon him as he began moving up the sidewalk. Thankful for the rare social interaction that would take place as he began his morning walk, he enjoyed the peace, the silence, and the lack of inane conversation that seemed to plague most situations in which he would find himself.

               Thirty minutes later, he circled through the town and carefully observed everything that was taking place, new construction, a current demolition job, train activity, and the occasional barking dog. Waving at the occasional car that drove past, he worked hard to increase his walking speed, and was tempted to walk a second loop, wanting to burn off any extra weight he had gained over the winter holidays.

               The second loop was completed and he returned to his front door, turned off his exercise app and was pleased with the time and distance he had covered. Kicking off his shoes as he entered his home, feeling sweaty and tired he stripped down to a t-shirt and shorts, taking the next several minutes to cool off, while drinking a tepid beverage.

               “Maybe I’ll take a shower right now,” he thought. “I hate the idea of getting dressed into fresh clothes and going through the day after building up this much sweat. There is nothing better than having a clean, and fresh start.” After finishing his drink, he slipped into a cool shower to then step out fresh, energized, and thrilled to take on the day as it would progress.

               “Okay, let’s read through the biography one more time and see if any other memories emerge,” he said to himself. After one hour of reading, thinking, and musing, he poured himself a large mug of coffee, sat on the back porch and enjoyed the ever-present gentle breeze that always passed through his neighborhood. The peace, the silence, and the glory of a new day wrapped itself around him until someone nearby started mowing their lawn, like having everything good and peaceful taken from him, he stood up and walked back into his house to enjoy some light classical music.

               Another ten minutes of light stretching followed his entrance into his home, which was followed by two more hours of writing, thankful that he took the time to read through his autobiography one more time, more memories emerged, allowing him to further expand his documented life. “Phew, sunset, yep, that is definitely a great metaphor for my reality,” he thought. “I need to create a short story that communicates this transition.”

               After a thirty-minute break from the computer screen, he returned to begin writing his short story, marveling at the radical change that had taken place from a life formerly consumed by frustration, disappointment, and eventual realized deception. “Okay, peace, good friends, silence, assistance from godly people about pursuing a life not polluted by social media, distraction, and plastic smiles,” he thought.

               The day came to an end, he prepared and ate dinner, enjoyed a new life free from noise, distraction, and deception, to then step outside and watch the sun slowly disappear behind the distant hills. “And there is a reverse metaphor,” he thought, “a beautiful day of light, peace, and joy to slowly transition into darkness.”

               He rose from the solitude of his back deck to move onto his front deck, watch traffic drive past and watch the occasional person stroll past on the sidewalk. A numberless amount of children moved throughout the neighborhood on their bicycles, on scooters, on golf carts, and on skateboards. “Man, that is a lot of kids out and about,” he said to himself, “this communicates the fact that this town is safe for kids to roam without concern about shady characters abducting them.”

               Eventually all sunshine disappeared, leaving him in absolute darkness and a silent neighborhood. The occasional owl sounded in the distance, reminding him that the world is a big, beautiful place, full of that which is natural but also polluted by noise, distraction, and fake kindness. Yawning aggressively, he slipped back inside, put on his pajamas, did his evening prayers, drank a warm drink and slipped into bed to be immediately joined by two cats looking for a warm place to lie down.

               Waking every ninety minutes, he finally pulled himself from bed the next morning, still feeling tired but knowing that another walk would be a good idea after morning prayers and breakfast. He finished eating his morning meal, did some light stretching, and began his walk with thoughts about his autobiography rolling through his mind, stirring up more memories to then hurry home and document his new thoughts, making his autobiography that much longer.

               “Sunsetting,” he thought, “what a perfect metaphor for this transition from a former life of deception to a new life of peace and beauty. You have been sunsetted,” he said out loud, “a new start for me, a new start for you, all based on your self-deception, your desire for something else, and a beautiful new life for me but not for you.”