Sun

I have been thinking about the sun lately. A lot. Because I don't see it often. And I miss it. A lot.

I have a collection of suns. My collection started when I was 16 and left the country for the first time. I went to Peru. My group visited an orphanage of kids with special needs. Most of them had down syndrome. A boy, who couldn't have been older than 12, gave me a ceramic sun that he made and beautifully painted. And he told me that he gave it to me because I reminded him of the sun - I was bright and happy and made people around me bright and happy, too.

From that moment on, the sun has been a symbol for my life.

The sun gives warmth and love and life to everything it touches - and asks for nothing in return. There is a story of a boy who found a piece of a wrecked motorcycle mirror during World War 2 and used it to reflect sunlight to the darkest places he could find. With help from the little mirror, light would reach the most impossible places.

Light and darkness cannot exist in the same place - unfortunately there are so many dark places in the world - and in the hearts and souls of people around me. Loneliness, sadness, loss, lack of confidence - those are all dark, dark places.

I strive to be a light not only in my everyday life and in the world - but I hope to use little tools - tools like awareness and kindness and love to shine my light to the most impossible places - inside the hearts and souls of those around me.