You can travel the same stretch of road day in, day out, week after week, month after month & season after season until you know it the way you would know the path from your bed to your bathroom… you could do it with your eyes closed.
I suppose the Merritt Parkway from Stamford to Norwalk is that way for me… Exit 34 to Exit I Forget (it’s either 39 or 40… sorry, I have a mental block). My favorite part of the journey is not technically on the Merritt; but rather on the connecting ramp that turns South onto “Super 7”.
But I do have a favorite part on the Merritt proper… it’s the “ridge to ridge” drive going North just before the Long Ridge Rd Exit (#34) to just after. I reckon the distance to be just about a mile… a nice down hill into the “valley”, and then a good up hill… not exactly Switzerland; but nice for Connecticut Suburbia.
My favorite scenes are early in the morning before the sun breaks thru the horizon, when a thick mist can enshroud the low lying areas in the “valley”, obscuring the trees… and the lights of the on coming cars traveling South look like pearls dropping from the sky.
This morning I was treated to yet another wonderful sight. It’s seems like it’s been months in the making. Maybe I was just unlucky? Getting up too early or too late to see the early morning gifts that Mother Nature presents us. Or maybe it was too cloudy when the timing would have been right? Who knows these things.
It only becomes obvious when you finally hit it right. And today I did. Yes, a mist had settled below… perhaps a forecast of the humidity that we would feel for the day. The greens of the trees were muted to sage, eucalyptus & bottle green, their trunks a sombre grey. And as luck would have it, there were no cars traveling in either direction… it was just me. Nothing to distract me.
I look to the other “ridge”, and then to the sky. A thick swath of pink lay just above the tree line, which then gave way to grey, then to be interrupted by another ribbon of coral pink… to a pale grey canvas with a few streaky clouds kissed with the lightest of pink under bellies.
In a blink I am passed the other ridge, the soft mist covered valley already a memory, and my spectacular sky has already changed shape and inflection.
But for an instant it was mine.
And like other mornings, the beauty and wonders of the day were fleeting. There to be seen and appreciated, and then not there. It’s like “Mother Nature” demands, “See this now, feel this now, because I am going to take it away!”
Well… what can I tell you? Mother Nature can be bossy… you know it’s a tough Union.
I am not particularly good at giving lessons, maybe worse at giving advice; but I figure there should be something to “chew over”… if you’re awake don’t close your eyes to the things around you, look for the sounds, feel for the fragrances, seek the textures that add depth to our life…
Life is not a “still life”… it forever moves. My Morning today will not be repeated. It was a complete treat for me. Tomorrow? Maybe it will be wonderful, too. Maybe it will be even better. But it won’t be today… a wonderful day on a road well traveled.