“To part is to die, a little.” I always feel that way when the time comes to leave the Outer Banks for home, and I think I caught a little of the flavor of the sentiment in my last photograph of our Thanksgiving vacation, 28 November 2021.

We had woken up depressingly early for the loooong drive back to Scranton; but as we were closing everything up to head down to the car with our bags, we noticed the sun was rising. No careful photograph of the sunrise from the beach this day; my camera was all packed up. Too late, not enough time to capture it. Rather, therefore, a parting iPhone shot of a beautiful blue hour giving way to pink reflected through the open door of our room. The swash of the waves is ever so slightly purple reflecting pink and blue at once. The scene, through the open balcony door, is reflected in the room’s mirror, symbolizing that we were already at one remove from whatever reality our vacation had had as we prepared to rejoin our mundane lives.
iPhone XS, edited in Apple Photos.