Sunday drive

There have been a ton of changes in my life recently; not all have been good.
When Life is coming hard down on you, it becomes pretty difficult for you to think straight. You try to keep moving forward with work and school but things get more and more twisted.

After church yesterday, I made an impulsive decision (something I'm famous for) to take a Sunday drive in my jeep. I turned the radio on and some country music was playing. Right turn, left turn, around the corner. I had no idea where I was going, but it felt good -- just me and the music and a typical Missouri dirt road.
I wasn't running away, I was just sorting out my thoughts.

Small things started coming to my attention: a flock of turkeys in a field, two horses getting soaked in the rain, an abandoned barn. The pattern of rain on the windshield was calming, and I found myself admiring the colours of a wintery countryside.
This spontaneous Sunday drive had somehow cleared my mind and I was feeling rejuvenated -- ready to face the mess of 'normal' life again..

Sometimes we need to step away from everything.
Maybe that means traveling on a different road for a while before coming back, or maybe that means stopping and taking a deep breath before shouldering onwards. But it doesn't take much; a Sunday drive is more than plenty.

a walk in the woods

     In a leaf littered forest somewhere in mid-Missouri, a caravan of hikers are making their way along a narrow path. They are a colorful group -- blue and green coats, a collection of bags and cameras, one occupied baby carrier, and a couple of large dogs.
    Suddenly, Indian war whoops pierce the silence. Two teenagers are chasing each other with young children riding piggy back (clinging on for dear life.) "I'm going to get you!" one of them shouts, immediately followed by bursts of laughter. They run doggedly up the hill, stopping only when they reach the edge of a sharp drop-off. The remainder of the group catches up and together they stand -- admiring the bony whiteness of the sycamores against the craggy rocks; taking in the wintery scene of brown and grey.
     On their descent, the hikers stop by a creek bed covered in ice. There is only one logical thing to do, and that is to try and crack the ice as much as possible by throwing rocks. It doesn't take long for them to create a game of it: a modified version of shuffleboard. Lots of giggling and joking around is involved as well as numerous Monty Python quotes scattered throughout the conversation.

     Finally, it's time to head home. Everyone has sniffling noses and bright red cheeks, but the sharp winter wind is exhilarating and pushes them back along the trail. Each traveler goes his separate way after many well-wishes and goodbyes, unsure of when they will see each other again and what adventures will arise in the future. But a new year has commenced -- a time of renewing goals and beginning again, starting with a walk in the woods.

beautiful words

Words are vessels of emotion.

 

That is why I love to write -- why I attempt to put "the best words in the best order"....

There is no other way to express feelings so explicitly.

"She lives the poetry she cannot write."
           Oscar Wilde


"I'm restless. Things are calling me away. My hair is being pulled by the stars again."             Anais Nin


"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."       Vincent Van Gogh


"The poetry of the earth is never dead."
                John Keats


"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."          
    Winnie the Pooh


"I am in the mood to dissolve in the sky."
                Virginia Woolf


"Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet."                Bob Marley


"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come."               William Shakespeare


"There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still."     Corrie Ten Boom


"He will come to us like rain."       
        Hosea 6:3


"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door."          Emily Dickinson