The Morning Glory

When my friends told me about this crazy impromptu idea of catching sunrise on top of Mangunan Hills, I thought it was never gonna happen. I wasn’t a morning person, first of all, and I believed it’d be just the same with sunsets. But they made me go anyway.
We took 2 hours uphill road trip and continued by 30 minutes of hiking to get to the top. The road was long and winding.
“You’d thank me on our way back,” said my friend. I looked outside. There was only darkness. It was 3 am.
Half way to go, I finally caught a view. An army of villagers walked in line. Wooden baskets loaded with fresh vegetables were carried on their shoulders. My friend opened the window on his left to take pictures.
I felt a flow of air hugged my neck. It was cold, only a little less than the car’s air conditioner but much more fresh. I decided to open the window on my side too and began to vaguely heard a noise approaching.
It was from a traditional early market. Our car had to slow down when we were passing the market. Half of the road was covered with people.
“Can you imagine having to work at this hour, outside?” I murmured. Deep down, I was a little bit too overwhelmed.
After a steep way up, we reached the point where we had to start hiking. There was a stoned path to the top, thankfully. However, I kept looking down to watch my steps.
“Here we are,” said my friend. His voice was heavy with enthusiasm.
I looked up to find out that we were just in time before the sun arose from beneath the horizon. The universe began showing its enchanting magic. I succumbed under its spell.
The sky bled its red to yellow nuances. Beneath, there was a sea of clouds. It wasn’t real though. It was the voluminous overlay of fog. On my left, a thick flow of fog was streaming down another hill, looking like a waterfall.
I didn’t feel like standing on the edge of an upper hill anymore.
Standing on a land above the clouds, I realized that there was a story the sunrises had been hiding from me. They might not have any meaning to me but they sure did to the people in the market earlier that day.
Each sunrise is a brand new day with a stack of hope. Each sunrise is a reason to be grateful. Remembering the looks of my laughing friends that morning just adds more reason to be.
In the end, I was humble enough to promise myself to never say never. Because once you’ve done it, you might want some more.
“Thank you for not giving up until I got on the trip.” I said to my friend. We weren’t even on our way back.