Well...

"Remember this, I remember telling myself, hang on to this," says Patricia Hampl. This is her reaction to a moment in time. A reflex to memorize everything about life in that one second.

I know exactly what the author is describing when I read this packet. It takes me directly to a time very similar, in the summer before my eighth grade year. I was also on a bus, coincidentally, but I was in Nicaragua rather than Mississippi.

We had gotten up early to go start our work on the small school we were helping. I stumbled into the bus, still wiping the sleep from my eyes. It had been four days in a new world, four days of a new mindset, of a purely simple existence. Even though I am absolutely not an early riser, I was wide awake by the time the wheels on the old, beat up bus started to move.

We started climbing. Well, the bus started climbing. Four wheels, not all on the ground at the same time, but still climbing. Straight up the side of a mountain, traveling a road with no guardrail to the sides or pavement on the surface.

Finally, the bus evened out. Four wheels made contact with flat ground, and I looked out the window. What I saw stopped all motion. I was entranced, plain and simple. To the right, a drop off of thousands of feet, followed by breathtaking beauty and a sunrise.

This was my 'Red Sky' moment. I distinctly remember taking a picture, and then memorizing everything around me, trying to 'bottle up' the feeling. For the most part, it worked because it is still imprinted in my mind like it happened yesterday. Even though customs would not allow me to bring back my bottle of sunshine from Nicaragua, I can still go back to that moment whenever I feel the desire.