Well, I’ve been inspired again. Earlier this year one spring storm sort of awoke my senses. I didn’t know why, but I wanted to write about it, wanted to remember it. I didn’t want to let the feeling fade, and yet, here I am, in december, recalling the feeling for the first time since it left.

April 2, 2009

No more than 45 minutes ago, I was upstairs on my computer (my current location, in fact) next to my open window. I don’t know why, but the thunder was incredibly alluring, maybe because it was coupled with the 70 degree night breeze. Anyways, all of the sudden the thought hits me “there are no tests to study for, no practices to go to, and absolutely nothing that needs to be done. Why are you still sitting here?”. I walked out my front door to a very light trickle of rain and a crack of lightning that lit up the sky and seemed to part the world in two. Thunder you can feel inside your bones, cool drops landing lightly on your face, and bright lights surging the sky every 30-40 seconds. But what made today different? Why this thunderstorm? I laid in my driveway at least a good 20 minutes, not caring about the passing cars or passing glances, just taking in the scent, the beauty, the goosebumps on my arms. To say I had an epiphany is probably and exaggeration, but I’ll use the term nonetheless. I thought “This is what life’s about. Right here, right now. Loving the everyday”. I watched disappointed as cars went straight from the roads to there garage, the doors closing before their drivers even exited the vehicle. I wondered if they knew what was going on right outside their enclosed lives. The phrase “stop and smell the roses” took on new meaning for me today. And as happy as I just was, I don’t want to ever forget to appreciate again. Life really is beautiful.

December19, 2009

Tonight I looked out that same bedroom window to see, for the first time this winter, thousands of snowflakes falling from the sky. At first I thought, wow, you know, that really is kind of beautiful. Then, I went to my bed and got ready to go to sleep. For some reason though, I thought, well, maybe I should go and look just one more time. This happened two more times before I finally decided, just like last April, to go out and experience the beauty instead of witnessing it from the inside. Snow is so much different from the rain. Rain drops fall with purpose, they shoot out of the sky targeting in on their destination. The snow tonight was so whimsical. In fact, I think this is the first time I’ve ever found the word whimsical to be the perfect description something. It just floated gracefully from the sky, some taking a direct path down, others blowing left and right before deciding on a place to land. I looked up as the snowflakes poured of the grey, muted background and thought about how I wish I could stand to stare at it for more than just a few seconds. I thought it was strange how there could be so much motion, everywhere I looked, and yet no sound. Do you ever plug your ears to drown something out, or to just get inside your head for awhile? That was what it was like. I felt like the world was inside my head, and all of it’s beauty too. Appreciate the world, be a part of it. Life is beautiful.