Steady

On the Winter Solstice, English Heritage did a livestream of the sunrise at Stonehenge. I stayed up for it (2:09am my time), and watched the whole 45 mins before and 45 mins after that they showed. I found it so calming I was nearly in tears. The thought of something lasting for 5,000 years, the thought of people making it through for 5,000 years overwhelmed and encouraged me. Someone commented on the birds, finding it remarkable and reassuring that just like birds were flying over Stonehenge now, they flew over it when it was first erected. I found it reassuring as well.

The sunrise ended up not being all that impressive. It was cloudy so really all that happened was the sky turned from an odd shade of blue to an odd shade of purple. But the stones still stood. And thousands of people around the globe were gathered together to watch it. In that moment I felt part of something much larger than myself. That was needed.