Random Meeting

For some strange reason I felt like watching the sunrise this morning. I live in Hawaii, it's absolutely beautiful here, and I couldn't remember the last time I watched a sunrise. So last night I decided I would wake up early and head to the east side of the island. I thought it would be even cooler to watch the sunrise from the top of a mountain so the plan was to hike to the top of Koko Head before dawn.

The sun rose at 6:22am this morning. I figured if I got to Koko Head a little before 6 I'd have enough time to get to the top. I woke up at 5am, blinked, and it was suddenly 5:53am. Not used to waking up before dawn. Anyway, I crawled out of bed, splashed some water on my face, brushed my teeth, grabbed an apple and a water bottle, and headed out.

It was almost 6:20 went I neared Koko Head. The sky was lighting up by the rising sun. Koko Head loomed ahead, still darkened by the fleeting night but the sky behind it was a glowing orange. I should of stopped to take a picture of it, maybe next time. Anyhow, I knew there was no way I'd get to the top in 2 minutes so I figured I'd just keep driving and stop at a lookout point along the road.

Now, you may be wondering what the title of this blog has to do with what's written so far. Well, honestly, nothing. So let's tie it up. On Friday I was talking with a friend of mine about how long it's been since we've seen some of our other friends. Last year we used to hike regularly, have lots of barbeques, train for events together, and so on. But this year we haven't done so much of that.

Back to this morning, I'm at the Halona lookout point just before Makapu'u beach. The sun was halfway above the horizon and lighting up the sky. Several photographers had climbed down onto the rocks and a small beach area below the lookout. Most were photographing the sunrise, some were snapping away at the swirling waters, one guy was taking pictures of a woman sitting on the rocks.

Hawaiian Sunrise with a golden path to the stars

I was admiring the brilliant sunrise, noticing how its rays reflected off the ocean creating what looked like a golden pathway leading from the shore to the Sun. Then I hear, “Hey David!” I turned and saw my friend James, one of the guys we used to go hiking and have barbeques with. He's a photographer, does some really nice stuff (check out his website here: http://jameswramos.wix.com/jamesramos#!home/mainPage or see his Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/JamesRamosPhotography?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/JamesRamosPhotography). He was waiting for some people to show up for a photo shoot.

Title makes a little more sense now right?? Right.

It was nice running into James. He's a good guy and I admire how he pursues one of his passions in photography. It got me thinking about how many of us - or perhaps all of us - want to achieve something. Whether it's creating something, reaching a certain status, or getting to a certain place, there's something we want to do. But there's a difference in the people that want it, and those that try for it. James strikes me as a guy that's taking a shot and puts his talents to use.

To think, if I had actually woken up when I planned to and went to the top of Koko Head I wouldn't have run into James. I wouldn't have reflected on the difference of having an idea of what you want to become and actually going after what you want to become. What I want to become for that matter. Randomness works out from time to time. And with that in mind, I'm going to go work on my book.