Raindrops...

I sat at night with a friend under the open sky. As raindrops fell we talked.... about life, choices we'd made, and hopes and dreams. And like those infinite raindrops gently falling, softly caressing our faces, we let our words fall... truthfully liberating ourselves, deeply understanding each other. We were at peace. The feel of rain falling on my skin is, incidentally, one of the most intense experiences....right up there with falling (read jumping) out of a plane at 18000 feet.

The elements "au naturale" provide me with a bigger high than any drug ever could!

...I once missed a shuttle and consequently my flight... because I was mesmerized by the falling snow and so engaged in trying to catch one flake on my tongue and one on my nose in succession...(my daughter won that one!). The delicate sculptures floated daintily in the air...like fairies and angels at play. It was the first time I had ever seen snow falling.

...I once completely missed my friend's house because of a full moon. A blue full moon to be exact. So distracted was I, by the moonlight ensnared in my eyes nothing else mattered to me at that moment. Except the beauty. The ecstasy of that experience. Two miles and a half later I turned back when I realized I had gone right past the house.

...I once stood in the midst of the majestic Rakaposhi mountains. Silenced in awe of the grace and might of them. Silenced in honor of their timeless knowledge and presence. Silenced because I was humbled by their size. Silenced because they knew so much... they had "been" so much longer and "seen" so much more. Silenced because the experience was overwhelming. Silent- as tears streamed down my face... because I saw the face of God in them.

...I once walked past a park and was overcome with the urge to feel the grass under my bare feet. I took off my shoes and gloated in the texture of the green, dewy moist, soft blades crushed beneath my feet. The tickling sensation as the stubborn stalks sprang back into shape when I lightly lifted my feet.... I finally arrived for my appointment, 30 minutes late... with green stained feet inside my pumps. Elated and happy.

...I once stood in front of the ocean in a storm. While winds raged, and waves crashed and the sky darkened and people ran helter, skelter into shelter. I stood still. I stood alone. In complete harmony with myself and the elements. The storm that raged within me was echoed and validated by the storm that raged without. The crash of thunder was the sound of my soul in torment. The battering raindrops were my tears that would not fall. The crashing waves were my desires that could not be unleashed. The overcast sky was my pain...suffocating. Through that storm I stood still. Shivering and drenched. Completely at peace. Completely understood. When it was done a few hours later I walked back to my hotel. My catharsis- my storm.

...I once stood in the vast desert in the moonlight. In the silver sands I danced to my own rhythm, my own song, my own drums. I was myself, just another element that night.

The elements...nature...raindrops...and me. I am them and they are me.