A Grieving Family Gets Their Father's Sunset, Thanks To The Kindness Of Strangers

Sunset over Mankato, Minnesota on January 16. After a
gloomy two month period in Minnesota, the sky lit up
on the day Vietnam veteran Craig Wilson passed away,
Photo from Sparrow Media via Facebook

In this (in my opinion) dark age of America, I'm always looking for the light. 

So, too, was a grieving Minnesota family this winter

Vietnam veteran Craig Wilson was laid to rest this winter on a dark, overcast day at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Preston, Minnesota.

In the final couple months of his life, as his family gathered with him at a Minnesota hospital, they couldn't help noticing how gloomy and cloudy the weather had been, darkened their mood even more as the family patriarch faded. 

Wilson died on January 16.  Late that afternoon, the Minnesota sky lit up with what locals say was one of the most spectacular sunsets in memory. Wilson's family took it as a sign.

Wilson's daughter, Emily Canney, took in that sunset. But after it was over, she realized she never took a photo of it. Which was important, given her father's memory 

"'All that night and all the next day, I'm kicking myself because I didn't get a picture,' Emily said. 'How could you not capture this stunning glorious sunset?'"

Sunset over rural Minnesota on January 16. Photo by
Sandy Zimmer Gaulke

Canney went to the "That's so Minnesota" page on Facebook and wrote: "I'm wondering if any of you amazing photographers happened to capture last night's sunset. My dad passed away yesterday and I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a picture."

Canney hoped that maybe one photographer would respond.

Instead, 883 people did. A few of them offered condolences without a photo. But the overwhelming majority of respondents posted photos of that January 16 Minnesota sunset. 

There were pictures of the sunset over cities. The sunset over the prairie. The sunset over the north woods. Sunset over an informal ice hockey rink. You get the idea. 

Then there were comments like this: "Your dad must have been special for God to have painted such a beautiful sky."

In this age when there's too much darkness around, it's gratifying that so many people want to literally show each other the light. 

It might seem like a small gesture, posting a sunset photo to raise the spirits of a grieving daughter.  But every positive, "small" gesture is really a big one.

It's wonderful that the weather cooperated to create this beautiful sunset, this beautiful tribute. Even better were the people who went outside in the middle of a Minnesota winter to capture a sky glowing in all those colors.  

It's all about finding the light. 

  

The Last Warm Autumn Sunset

Trees glow in golden light from a low angle sun Saturday
afternoon in St. Albans, Vermont. The dark clouds above
signal the end of a remarkable warm spell, and the start
of winter, or at least Winter Lite 

 Late Saturday, afternoon,  I said goodbye to a beautiful Vermont autumn and said hello to winter. 

Yes, it's still autumn, but winter, at least Winter Lite, almost always hits the Green Mountain State in sometime in November. 

It's hitting right on schedule, really. 

The opening week and a half of this November felt like never-ending summer, what with bouts of record high temperatures and periods of strangely high humidity. 

As forecast, that all started crashing down with the setting sun Saturday. The rest of the weekend, and probably the rest of November, would be quite different.

 Unlike the first 12 days of the month, Sunday was completely in character with November: Dark, overcast, drizzly, cold, with snow flurries eventually mixing into the picture. It was a little brighter on Monday, but the air had a definite cold season chill to it. 

Amid still warm temperatures late Saturday afternoon, I knew this change was coming. As if to announce it Ma Nature gave us what I would call the last warm sunset of the autumn.

It wasn't the sky that was so interesting, but the landscape was. A shaft of golden sun broke through the clouds before sinking behind the Adirondacks.  It lit up the bare trees, still wet from the out of season, early morning tropical downpours. 

The sun on the trees gave a warm, golden glow, as if to say, this is your last chance to enjoy a balmy atmosphere for awhile. Above this golden glow, dark, cold clouds competed with warmer looking sunlit ones. The battle to turn cold had started, and the cold was the inevitable winner.

For a hint of what I saw, click on this link to see it on video. Or, if you see the link to the YouTube video below, click on that. (Not all devices let you see that image)