When I quit my job, I scheduled a week away in a cabin, on a lake, away from the city.
I had dreams of achieving Thoreau-like inspiration for my writing, but as anticipated, I spent the first few days sleeping a lot. However, I did get an hour or two of writing in each day. I was extra alert … aware that I might miss work or feel frustrated as I tried to re-integrate writing into my life .. but strangely … as I slowly fell into the new rhythms of my life, what surprised me most was the weather.
In the morning, it would be gorgeous – a shocking blue sky – followed by a violent thunderstorm, then brooding clouds in the afternoon and maybe mild weather, alternating sun and shade in the evening. It wasn’t always in this order mind you – but it was some strange combination of the three contrasting conditions.
At first, I attributed the strange weather to the lake. Perhaps, I was in the middle of some geo-thermal anomaly that made the lake a hotbed of weather dynamics.
But, as I moved into August, set up my business at home, and found more time to write at my own kitchen table, I realized that every day was simply inconsistent. At least, the weather was.
I’ve worked for many years in an office setting. Sometimes with a window and sometimes with just a picture of the outside world. Nevertheless, I had assumed if it was a sunny day – it was sunny and nothing else. I had forgotten that weather evolves, moves, creates.
Now that I have time, space and energy to really see outside my window – to see that weather is everything but a constant, I’m seeing that life is like that too.
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8 comments:
just yesterday when i was in a subway station, i was thinking about those who worked there... told myself they never see the the sun or the clouds...
and now i'm reading you... enjoying the way you became aware of the weather... and the wisdom you gained... yes change is the only constant...
very beautiful post
Honor you write so well of this awakening awareness. The other thing abt weather too is people so often complain about it. Yet, it is one of the things in our lives that we cannot change by will. We can move to an area which tends to have different sort of weather, but basically it is not up to us what weather any one day presents. Humbling.
Very nice. When it's hot, be hot. When it's cold, be cold.
It recently occurred to me that good writers (all artists) are people who are good at seeing. Noticing. Remembering. Past their own limited thoughts. Like you.
HB - I think of those in our subway too ... thanks for coming by !
Suki - how true! People in my city love to talk about the weather. I have heard we take the "change of seasons" for granted :) Funny, I never looked at it that way.
Michael - Ah - I wish I could notice more. I'm so happy when I notice things :) Thanks ...
When I was young, I worked in a mall
Sometimes I would go into work on a warm sunny day, only to find after work, six inches of snow on my car…
In the Adirondacks, the old timers have a saying.
“Sure, we can predict the weather with great accuracy
But for only for the next ten minutes.”
And so it goes
No matter how hard we try to deny it
Life is dynamic
I remember when supercomputers first came along
Excited scientists expected that they would soon be able to predict the weather months in advance.
Of course that never happened. And even though I was only a child
I knew it wouldn’t
For already at a very young age I understood
The vast implications of everything being connected to everything else…
"No matter how hard we try to deny it - Life is dynamic"
wise words, Bobbb
so glad to see your words again on my page - we have missed your presence :)
when I left my cube and returned to my home state to my own "cabin" in the woods, I felt the same thing...and still do, one year later.
I love the glory in every changing moment...is there a bird or a deer or some other critter outside? What do those clouds look like? When will the sunbeam break out of the clouds and hit the tree tops?
What it brought back to me was the joy of waiting. Like waiting to get a letter in the mail to find out the answer to some burning question I had written to a friend. I realized that I had forgotten how to be happy in the "wait". In my immediate now...when everything needs to be done so quickly, where we instant message and pine when an email response takes more than an hour...it feels good to look out the window, watch the weather changing and simply...wait.
Welcome, Ladybug! I had a "cube" too. Ah, those wretched cubes.
I'm heartened to hear that the wonder lasts ... even a year.
I like the way you called it that -though - in the waiting. We have forgotten the joy in waiting :)
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