Four Paragraphs

Four Paragraphs
Three Photos
Two Quotes
One Challenge

I woke up this morning like I do most mornings, curious about how the night has been to me. Slowly, I stretch beneath the covers and take mental notes. I move my fingers on both hands. I recoil from my sleep position and stretch my limbs out perfectly straight. I lift my head, swivel my neck, roll my eyes along the ceiling. Only when my brain signals the “all clear” do I engage all the muscles it will take to rise up. 

Sunrise is earlier and earlier. How is it possible that these trips around the sun are happening at such an accelerated pace ? Civil twilight begins today at 5:51 AM. In the moments that follow, if we’re lucky, the color will spill across the sky like melted sherbet. It will deepen and intensify until 6:23 AM when the sun will slowly rise. I expect to be heading south, dawn breaking in the rear view. 

I will likely pull into the parking lot at the trailhead around 7:45. I’ll do what I have done my whole adult life and take a quick inventory: Keys, camera, ID band and … mask. The items have changed over the years. At one time there were cigarettes. A badge. A wallet. A watch. Today’s list will be locked in the vault of memory too. Artifacts of time for the telling of my stories.

Having mastered the cocoon, the thought of breaking free of it, is paralyzing. While this time has been free of engagement, it’s been free of entanglements too. I don’t know what it will mean to come together again with others as we emerge. Perhaps it will happen like the butterfly, one wing at a time …

One of the deepest longings
of the human soul
is to be seen.

John O’Donohue

We need to sit on the rim of the well of darkness and fish for fallen light with patience.

–Pablo Neruda

My challenge today is to photograph the unfoldings. The sun will be coaxing even the most hesitant from their tight little buds. I will be mindful of the world I step into today, knowing I am both witness and participant in this greater act of unfolding. I’ll share my observations in my next post as I chart the course for my own re-entry.