This afternoon was pretty normal. I went to work, went to class, and came home. I had decided that I was going to try to be productive today instead of sitting on my oh-so-uncomfortable couch and watching 8 hours of TV that would serve no purpose than to ultimately make me a little fatter and lazier. Having made up my mind, I wrote a pretty lengthy to-do list and began diligently trying to check off the said items. Around 5:00 I decided to go out and run a few errands. I went to Tiger Town and then ran by the pharmacy, but by the time my prescription was ready, I got back into my car and realized that it had gotten a little later than I thought. I had to be back at work by the time football practice was over to make sure I caught a couple of the guys on the way out (who I ended up missing, by the way, but that's entirely beside the point). SO. I immediately entered into what I like to call "Mae Margaret Time Stress." This basically means that I start obsessing over everything I have to get done in an extremely short period of time. I pulled out of the parking space, quickly analyzed the fastest way to get home from the pharmacy (for those of you non-Auburn folks, there are a million ways to get from one place to another in Auburn, and sometimes choosing the quickest route proves harder than you'd think), and sped off down the road. My mind was swarming with thoughts of exactly what to do when I got home. It went something like "take the bags inside, no wait, they could stay. Well why wait? You have time. No, maybe leave them and just run in and grab some food really quick, you might be at practice awhile. Well, I could take them inside and then drive thru somewhere and get food and take it with me. Or I guess I could eat later. I'm going to get really hungry though if this takes longer than I'm thinking." You get the idea.
Before I knew it, I was at my apartment wondering if I ran any stop signs or red lights on my way home, as I didn't really remember anything about the trip except for the argument with myself. I jumped out, having decided on taking everything inside, and hastily made my way in the house to throw everything down and dash back out the door again. I headed for Zaxby's, figuring a salad would be quick, easy, semi-healthy, and cheap. I pulled in line at the drive-thru, ordered, paid, grabbed my food and continued on toward the Complex. As I was about to turn onto Donahue from College, I glanced in my rear-view mirror and what I saw made me do a double-take. I glanced back, wondering if a light had just caught my eye in a weird way. Nope. I was right the first time.
The sky behind me looked like a watercolor painting. It was pink and orange and yellow, mixed with a little blue and it looked like someone had taken a big bucket and splashed color on the sky. I looked back in front of me, but all I saw then was black. I turned my attention back to the "painting" and couldn't believe the same night sky could look so different in two places at once. And the "painting" was behind me, out of my direct line of sight, and about to disappear for good. Yet, something in it caught my attention.
As the sun went all the way down on the Plains and the Fall air became a little cooler, I started to wonder if looking behind me was really all that bad. Maybe there's something to be said for appreciating the past and what it will offer for the future. After all, I'd venture to guess that tomorrow's sunrise might look just as wonderful.
Love.
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