Plenty has been said about a recent celestial phenomenon.
I can understand the fascination with the heavens, though, after watching an incredible sunset during a trip last month to Nicaragua. A beautiful country replete with jungles and volcanoes, Nicaragua has an island in the country’s central waters of Lago Cocibolca.
My daughter and I were mesmerized by the sunset on Ometepe. The water was so calm, the sky so beautifully streaked with puffy clouds that we could not see the delineation of water and sea. God’s creations are magnificent.
In light of tragic deaths of amazing young men in my family’s faith and school communities, I feel profoundly blessed to have shared that moment with my daughter.
No matter how often we hear in Scripture that none of us know the hour that our time on earth will end, how many of us take it for granted that we have all the time in the world to make plans for the future?
While visiting Central America was something I had never envisioned, when my daughter had the opportunity to live there this summer, I jumped at the chance to travel there.
We had many adventures, from ziplining in the jungle to taking “chicken buses” across the country and haggling with taxi drivers. (Chicken buses are former U.S. school buses used to transport locals and tourists from town to town.) We attended Mass in a beautiful cathedral in the Spanish colonial town of Granada, and I heard hymns I remembered from childhood.
I thank God for having kept us safe and for allowing me to spend this one-on-one time with my daughter before we had to take her back to college. Every day is a gift, so cherish those special moments with families and friends.
