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My friends Becky and Joelle and I decided to watch the sun rise over the ocean on Easter morning. When we woke up, it was still pretty dark with just a small strip of orange in the east.

 I could still see one planet.

 After a quick walk to the beach, we sat on the rocks and watched the narrow stripe of orange expand and push away the darkness. A light pink band appeared above the orange and the whole sky was getting lighter. I listened to the waves lapping on the sand and watched the seagulls flying back and forth.

 Then the small clouds behind the mountains were illuminated from the bottom and glowed a radiant pink.

 By this time the pink and orange bands had stretched behind us to reach around the whole sky, and even the higher parts of the dome of the sky were getting lighter and lighter.

 Suddenly the tip of the sun (if a circle can have a tip) burst up from behind the mountains. I thought it was light before, but this sliver of sun was shockingly, blindingly radiant.

 The sun kept rising upwards, so quickly that I could almost see it move. And now the light of the sun was reflected dozens of times on the peak of every swell and wave in the ocean. It reminded me of pictures I used to draw of sunrises and sunsets in which the orange and yellow and pink were reflected just like this.

 In a matter of minutes, the whole sun was visible above the horizon and there was no darkness at all in the bright, blue sky.

 The waves kept breaking and the seagulls kept flying as though nothing had happened. I watched the way the dazzling sunlight reflected off the white surf, the wet sand, and the slippery rocks.

 I rolled up my pants and walked in the moist sand feeling it give gently under the pressure of my feet. Then I stood in the ocean, and even though the waves were chilly, the heat of the sun on my face kept me warm. It was perfect.

 

Of all the things I've seen in South Africa, I think this sunrise was the most beautiful. It makes me wonder where I was the 7,634 previous times the sun rose in my life. But I'm happy, because when I go back to America, the penguins, the mountains, and the giraffes are staying here, but the sun is coming with me.