Secret Sun Dog Celebrations

Something you should know about me is that I wasn't always like this.

Sitting at my old desk today in my new office, I looked up when a sliver of sunlight danced across the room. I took a long, deep breath, then exhaled in-time with the coffee-house jazz playing through my headphones. The trees wiggled in the breeze, cascading the light softly through the windows.

I couldn't help but smile—the afternoon light beaming in and out the room seemed to warrant it. It made me think of something called a "sun dog."

Sitting back in my chair, I absentmindedly fiddled with the ring on my left middle finger before relaxing my wrists and letting them hover just above the laptop keys in front of me. Sun dogs are these solar flare-type things that hang in the air like the Eye of Sauron; but you know, if J.R.R. Tolkien had gone for more of a snowy landscape in Lord Of The Rings instead of that fiery one.

Sun dogs are so cool. They only show up in the right atmospheric conditions. Think cold, snowy, overcast days that clear up just enough to let a column of light through. But then, add a rapid change of temperature and slow the wind speed way down all at once. This is the recipe I've seen work best. It makes the invisible pressure systems in the sky start acting like lava lamps, clumping and bumping against each other.

When those blobs part ways jusssttt enough—that's when sun dogs shine through.

They're elusive, though.

I went digging through the archives to try and find an example. It made me realize something pretty cool. And also, kind of heavy... but really inspiring at the same time?

I took this photo on a day when, like today, life seemed to snap into focus. I'd been tired. Stressed about money. Worried about getting certifications I'd spent whole seasons prepping for. All the while, I'd alsp been growing more and more disenchanted with chasing "the dream." In short, I'd made a habit of always agonizing over the next opportunity. One more, I'd tell myself, just to get ahead. Because for me, getting ahead really just meant getting "caught up", or even just "staying afloat."

For a huge chunk of my life, I kept myself busy by simply looking for more things to stack on the pile. I said yes to everything, hoping to learn my way into yet another new opportunity.

The goal was money, but not because I wanted to be rich. Seriously. I just wanted to be able to pay my rent and have free time; to get paid enough where I could step off of the hustle treadmill. Most days, I'd get up at 4:30 or 5am after pulling a closing shift at the brewery. During those early mornings, I'd diligently record weather data for avalanche forecasting, send out the snow report, and work on whichever web build, email campaign, or writing submission was due next. After that, I'd walk my coffee to the bus stop and catch a ride to work—to the job where I got to help people have the best day of their year. Or sometimes, of their life.

Back then, sun dogs seemed to show up when I needed a reminder to slow down. But now, afternoon sunlight pouring in through my office windows, I'm taking a moment to smile at how different things are.

As hard as I can be on myself, I'm realizing just how far I've come.