I received a beautiful card for my birthday. The front of the card is exquisite. The colors are soft pastels. It is a single tulip which is my favorite flower. I don't think the sender knew that. The message also took my breath away when I read it. On the front of the card there are five simple words. "Sometimes life is so beautiful..." and on the inside it says, "it catches you off-guard." I am often caught off- guard by the simple beauty of life. It can be the way the sun shines through the windows when I am sitting at my computer in the early morning. It can be the colors of the sunset as I drive home from work. The other night I almost had to stop the car as I drove home and saw the most beautiful full moon hanging low in the sky. Without thinking, I heard myself saying over and over and over again. Wow! Wow! Wow! Yes, sometimes life is so beautiful it catches you off-guard.
This picture of these beautiful tulips was taken as I walked along the path by Medicine Lake, close to my home. It was taken in 2003. I continue to be taken off-guard every day of my life.
3 comments:
Iam also caught off gaurd several times everyday. I sometimes think, when you're at the point in life that I am, things can get too busy to notice the smaller things in life, I enjoy looking at the mountains most everyday. Somedays it's how bold they look against a bright blue sky, other days it's the dark green against an overcast sky.
One of the things I enjoy most everyday at work is when I'm talking to a coworker or client and I say something and I can tell it truly affected them. And it gives them something to contemplate or will change how they do things.
Being on gaurd is no fun. Being caught off gaurd is how we learn.
AJ
thank you adam..I know I never want to get too busy to notice the smaller things in life...as you describe the mountains against the sky, I can see them...and I know that sometimes we know when we affect another human being and perhaps more often, we don't know..if we are lucky, they tell us...sometimes years later..I also like to tell people when they affect me...and adam..you are right..being on guard is NO fun..in fact it is so not fun, I think I get physically sick when I am guarded..I would rather take my chances and live with my guard down..
Adam,
You amaze me with your poetic writing! I'm learning things about you that I didn't know.
It has been very satisfying for me to witness your development as a writer from your days as secretary of the MFA to writing news in Wisconsin to writing poetry on mom's blog. I love poetry and the poetic style of writing prose. I always try
to achieve that in my prayers.
“To me, poetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment.” — Galway Kinnell
"Great poetry calls into question not less than everything. It dares us to break free from the safe strategies of the cautious mind. It opens us to pain and joy and delight. It amazes, startles, pierces, and transforms us. It can lead to communion and grace." - Roger Housden
"Writing poetry is the canoe and paddle that floats you out of the swamp of despair."
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