It was one of those bad mornings for me. Not just the morning, but the entire week had been bad. Projects, submissions, tests, misunderstandings, lethargy, you just name it. It seemed everything bad was jam-packed into this one week. One more day for the weekend, and I was already dog-tired. The last few nights had been bad. I had weird dreams. I had nightmares of pain and death and suffering. In one of them, I even saw that I was back in India and I did not have a job. I had woken up in cold sweat.
I had an early morning class at 8:30 am, when it is still dark. Last night, I fell asleep studying, the lights still on. The first thing I noticed when I woke up were the unwashed dishes from last night's dinner.
I hate doing the dishes, especially because that is what I have to do first thing in the morning. Grumpily, I brushed and put on some milk to heat for breakfast. Irritable and grumpy, I stood in the coldness of the wintry mornings in my shorts and somewhat crumpled tee shirt, scratching my head in confusion as I looked at the unwashed dishes in the sink and frowned. I was in a sour mood. I felt like being one of the lowest life forms on planet Earth. Washing dishes early in the morning did not make me. There was something about this morning I so very hated. Why? Why me?
Grumpily, I opened the tap for warm water, wet the sponge, and started to hastily pour out a generous amount of the dish cleaning liquid. And then, I happened to look up and out of the kitchen window outside. And I stood there transfixed and in awe. How had I not noticed this earlier? This was my fifth month running in this house. Why did I not notice it before? I released my breath when I realized that I was involuntarily holding it.
For there before me stood the mighty and the beautiful Mount Rainier in all its pristine beauty. Never once did I realize that one of the most beautiful mountains could be seen right out of my kitchen window, when I was doing something like washing dishes.
The dishes and the class was soon forgotten. The early morning sun was casting a golden hue on the mountain. It was an unusually clear morning, unlike the usual cloudy/rainy ones. I washed and dried my hands (dishes be darned), scampered back to my room to get my camera, and here it is, the view.
The beauty I captured on the camera is nothing compared to what I saw. Sometimes, everything in life seems to be going wrong. And then, it takes just a little, just a sight out of the kitchen window you have never noticed before, to realize what joy the little things in life could bring.
After that, I hummed a sweet note all the way while cleaning up the rest of the dishes.
sunshine.
