Earth and Sky

I’ve been decompressing so far on this renewal leave. Time to read and play and walk and touch base with people and eat good food. 

I’m finding myself halfway through and I’m taking a little solo retreat in South Dakota. Some hiking. Some writing. A lot of windshield time.

Tonight the whole western sky put on an amazing show as I drove. I kept wanting to stop and take pictures, but I also was trying to get to my destination before sunset.

I pulled in at the rest area where the sculpture Dignity of Earth and Sky overlooks the Missouri River  about ten minutes before the sun slipped past the horizon. The statue itself is amazing… Such power and hope and life in how she stands and welcomes and maybe even beckons you into an embrace. But I also stood there taking in the earth beneath my feet and the sky that surrounded me. The clouds filtering the sun. The wafting smell of juniper with the breeze. The hills and lights of the towns and the water reflecting the sky.

I stood there just taking it all in. Not needing to be anywhere else, or to rush, or to manage anything. Just to be. To smell. To look. To feel. To listen.

And… Later to taste a piece of pie 😉

During this renewal time so far, it has been that opportunity to stop and pause and savor and notice that I think has been so meaningful. I have the time to look up what a flower is, or open my app and try to identify the bird calls, or to just stop and watch the water or clouds.

But it has also been time to sit with a friend and talk into the night, and to dance and laugh with niblings, and to sit on the porch with my spouse and our cat. Moments of grounding. But also moments of renewed possibilities.