Sunset Over San Francisco Bay
8x10 Oil
Last year I spent a weekend away with one of my sons, a police detective who is often called upon to deal with the most heartbreaking situations having to do with battered women and children. Then there is the unpleasant and dangerous job of hunting down the perpetrators. It’s a job that can suck the life out of you. But service is his calling and he does it well. Even so, he needed a break. He needed to re-experience a bit of the good side of life, to hear music and laughter and wander through a few art galleries. He needed to clear his head and realign with his North Star. And dad had a solution.
San Francisco.
One of the many things we did while we were there was to go on a boat ride out into the bay in the late afternoon. It was an amazing sight, looking back at that beautiful city, then cruising out under the Golden Gate Bridge and coming back in to circle Alcatraz and venture around the bay. But the most wonderful sight of all was seeing the weight lift off my son’s shoulders. He smiled and chatted it up with strangers who were also wowed by it all. He was his old sociable self again, and I caught the light of hope for humanity flicker back on in his eyes.
I painted “Sunset Over San Francisco Bay” from one of the many photos I took in the dusky light on the deck of that boat. Looking at it now, all of those very special father-son moments come rushing back to me, reminding me of how the simple beauties that we often overlook or take for granted can mean so much in times of stress or turmoil.
It’s not I who provided the beauty. I just opened a door and a couple of windows. The beauty came from the place we call came from, the perfect universe, the Source of all Being.
He and I will travel again, maybe to San Francisco, maybe somewhere else. The world has no shortage of amazing places to go. And just as he seeks to bring hope and comfort into the lives of those he serves, I will keep opening doors and windows to let the Universe in, to remind him of who he is, and where he came from, and where he’s going.
It’s what fathers do.
It’s all so clear when you open your heart and let it all in. And out.
