Sunset and retirement share a legacy: Both have an afterglow.
Note Dorothea Lange's observation, "The camera is an instrument that helps us see without a camera."As a lifelong photographer (photographer means "light writer") I have always practiced this including making so many images of sunsets it is amazing my eyes still work.
Those who think this way attend more to afterglows than to moments the sun's crown vanishes. Once again, the sun nurturing path teaches: Our careers offer one way to shine our best gifts on others.
"Weather" stalks every career. Some let clouds shade their entire work lives. They spend countless moments checking the hours until "quitting time?" Later, the same folks start counting the years until retirement.
One of the mainstays of Radical Loving Care® is that any work, must be seen as a calling. Repetition & fatigue cloud that.
God calls with a whisper not a shout. Listen & watch the breeze part those clouds.
As for retirement's afterglow, people like me always preach what we are trying to practice. Am I still chasing the sun when nighttime is nigh?
Some reasons I never say, "I'm retired." The working marginalize the non-working. I continue multiple careers: film art, philanthropy & mentoring. I am not done.
The difference from my 40+ "sunshine years" of salaried work is scheduling freedom. But this is a mixed blessing for. Try saying, "I used to be a nurse."
Yet, which light is more gorgeous, "Midday or sunset?" Gradually, I have come to love the afterglow.
-Erie Chapman
Photograph: Erie Chapman: "Sunset Florida 2016"
