With Love from Megan (on riding in the rain in the dark)
My friend Megan wrote this on Sunday in response to my
post about riding my bike in the rain in the
dark on Saturday night. What lovely thoughts they are!
Isn't it
so important to keep looking at life as if you've never seen it before,
everything new, and full of possibility!
I guess the trick is to engage in everything with your heart open, full of curiosity and gratitude for it all, even when things don't seem to go your way. And to be fully present to all of it: the colors, shapes, sounds smells; and the way it feels: the cool air, the wind on your face; the wild exhilaration of accelerating speed, your own powerful legs taking you away into the night. You're soaking wet, and a little chilled, but you couldn't care less.
It's a whole different world at night, isn't it? There's a sense of freedom, and the world becomes magical, especially when all the light is reflected in the wet pavement.
I read your email this evening around 10:00 pm just having returned from my own nocturnal excursion with my pal Katie [one of Megan's cats], and my camera, set to "night scenes." And when I returned, I also brought home with me a feeling of joyous amazement.
Thanks for sharing with me,
love
Meg
In fact, of course, I was not soaking wet. That big ol' plastic poncho, which makes me look like a giant olive drab pumpkin on wheels, kept me warm and dry. I've been riding more in the rain lately -- that's essentially the weather in Rochester for at least another week anyway, so the only way I'm going to be able to ride is to ride in the rain.
People are staring at me, I know. I look really dorky in that poncho. But who the hell cares? I see a few other folks riding their bikes and they are wearing normal outerwear. They can't help but get wet like that. Really dumb, if you ask me. On the other hand, maybe I am getting the stares because people are thinking "where can I get a poncho like that?" Well, if they are smart, they are thinking that!
I guess the trick is to engage in everything with your heart open, full of curiosity and gratitude for it all, even when things don't seem to go your way. And to be fully present to all of it: the colors, shapes, sounds smells; and the way it feels: the cool air, the wind on your face; the wild exhilaration of accelerating speed, your own powerful legs taking you away into the night. You're soaking wet, and a little chilled, but you couldn't care less.
It's a whole different world at night, isn't it? There's a sense of freedom, and the world becomes magical, especially when all the light is reflected in the wet pavement.
I read your email this evening around 10:00 pm just having returned from my own nocturnal excursion with my pal Katie [one of Megan's cats], and my camera, set to "night scenes." And when I returned, I also brought home with me a feeling of joyous amazement.
Thanks for sharing with me,
love
Meg
In fact, of course, I was not soaking wet. That big ol' plastic poncho, which makes me look like a giant olive drab pumpkin on wheels, kept me warm and dry. I've been riding more in the rain lately -- that's essentially the weather in Rochester for at least another week anyway, so the only way I'm going to be able to ride is to ride in the rain.
People are staring at me, I know. I look really dorky in that poncho. But who the hell cares? I see a few other folks riding their bikes and they are wearing normal outerwear. They can't help but get wet like that. Really dumb, if you ask me. On the other hand, maybe I am getting the stares because people are thinking "where can I get a poncho like that?" Well, if they are smart, they are thinking that!
Posted: Tue - October 25, 2005 at 12:17 PM
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My name is Georgia NeSmith. "Random Acts of Love" is my weblog, but I have numerous other websites you can link to through this blog. "Random Acts of Love" began in February, 2004, and I have been posting to it fairly steadily ever since, although there are a few months when illness and other issues have kept me away. I write about nearly everything under the sun. I also do a lot of photography and digital art and I teach journalism online. Recently I've also started posting videos to YouTube.
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"The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while."
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
-- From "Crazy, He Calls Me"
written by: Bob Russell / Carl Sigman
Sung by Billie Holiday
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead
"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all..."
-- Emily Dickinson
"In our sleep, pain, which we cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom, through the awful grace of God.
-- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Published On: Aug 25, 2007 11:27 AM
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Published On: Aug 25, 2007 11:27 AM