A Gorgeous Day

I am blessed to live in a beautiful part of the country, and today was one of those days that took my breath away...
We are a few hours from the ocean, and about the same distance from the mountains, but this little place in the middle has splendor all its own.

The weather was cool and warm all at once- with an abundance of sunshine and gentle breezes. The sky was brilliant and full of the most lovely clouds I have seen in a long time. It reminded me of South Africa.

(Sunset in Jo'burg, March 2005)


The sun was golden, the green in the trees and on the ground was stunning, and all along the way were flowers. Pink, and purple, white, and yellow...little glorious creations- perfect pieces of art on display everywhere I looked.



I went for a drive with the kids after a movie. I took a side road that had a house for sale on it somewhere down the way. It was a curving road, and as I came out of the bend the land opened up before me and I almost stopped breathing! The earth stretched out into a big grassy plain that sloped up gently, and then down, and further out towards Red Mountain, which should be called "green mountain" this time of year because it was full of towering and lovely trees. Overhead, the sky was a blue I can only describe as being the color of God's eyes. The huge white overstuffed clouds hung above everything...the sharp contrast between the blue and the white made the clouds seem so real, so close, so magnificient...Oh, friends. I thought I was going to cry...



The sight of the green, and the blue,and the white did something to me on the inside...I FELT it. Like something tiny in my gut had sprung to life and was growing rapidly.
It felt wonderful and painful, happy and sad, it felt like life and death, all at the same time. I had to remind myself to keep breathing...and kept saying to the kids..."Look! Would you just look at that! Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in your life?!!!" They oooed and awed for me, "Yes, Mom...it's really pretty." But I could tell they didn't feel it like I was feeling it!

I wonder how that could be? I wonder how I could see something as ordinary as earth and sky and be moved to tears, and yet the kids could see the same and feel so much less. What did I see that they missed, or what has touched me so much that my senses are hightened?




Whatever the case, whatever the reason I was moved so deeply- it is a day I will long remember. A day of astounding beauty full of life, and art, and wonder. A day to be outside and to walk in gratitude. A day to smile and revel in.
Today was simply a gorgeous day!






(My Mothers Day gift 2 years ago...a garden bench in a special place :) )


(A view from my deck)