The Long Road Home

I remember driving through Bastrop just as the heat began to break, somewhere around six in the evening. There was a man at a roadside stand selling peaches, his hands stained with the dust of the orchard. He told me that in Texas, you don’t watch the sun go down to mark the end of the day; you watch it to see if the sky is going to forgive you for whatever you did since morning. It sounded like a tall tale, but standing there as the horizon turned that bruised, impossible shade of violet, I felt the weight of the day actually lift. We spend so much time rushing toward the next thing, convinced that speed is the only way to make progress. But sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is pull the car over, kill the engine, and let the light do the work of settling your nerves. Is there a place you go when you need the world to just be quiet for a moment?

Tisha Clinkenbeard has captured that exact stillness in her beautiful image titled Texas Sunset. It feels like a reminder that even the longest days have a gentle way of closing. Does this light feel like home to you?