Stopping By the Pond on a Snowy Morning

“When we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.”

– Wendell Berry

I got up this morning at the sound of the alarm. It was 6:00 am and I was waiting for that alert from work that said, ‘Hey Chris! Why don’t you sleep in this morning!”. There was snow on the ground and though, I didn’t think it was very serious, snow and ice can create travel complications for many people. The minutes passed by and I remained hopeful – and in bed! It wasn’t long after 6:30 and I decided I’d get up and start my day, when shortly after, the news came in: I had a reprieve until noon!

When I get up in the morning, I’m up and there’s usually no going back to sleep, so I looked outside, did a little reading & journaling, then I saw the birds outside my bay window flitter and fluttering about. I knew when my work day would start later that I’d want to go outside and explore, so I switched gears and started dressing up for the cold.

Layer on top of layer added, I jumped in my car and headed off to Boyd Pond. I pulled into the parking down by the boat ramp and no sooner than I stepped out of the car, I saw the images flowing through my mind’s eye. The golden sun shining down on the water, Canadian Geese gracefully floating across the water.

Sometimes the thing we most need to do is just to show up.