Friday, August 8, 2008

Ephemeral

The main lesson of this summer has been how the best things life has to offer are impermanent things. I have spent my time submerged in things that are by nature fleeting - little flowers, little boys, time spent in quiet thought, good food, the ability to wander according to my whims. The summer itself (with its inherent reminder that life itself) is a season that disappears. I meditate daily on the word "ephemeral" and the connection of this reality to the fact that I have achieved peak experience this summer.

Thank you, thank you for Charlie's babyhood, which, in a blink of an eye, will vanish as his brother Ellis's is doing this summer. Thank you, thank you for the plants that smell like incense on quiet morning walks in the cool green wetness. Thank you, thank you for each unique wildflower that exists for a short time never to exist again. Thank you, thank you for the ability to know that this life is paradise in its pain and tears, its happiness, its mundanity.

All things come and go in their time. I come and go in my time. And I hope only to release into the world my gratitude like the sound of a struck bell that swells and then fades into nothingness.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am trying to learn to be thankful, again. I want to meditate. I want to not try so hard. I just want to be grateful. It'll come. I appreciate you sharing your experience.

Thank you for writing and sharing your photographs.
It's grounding and wonderful.