Last night I set the alarm for 5AM.
This morning I hopped out of bed, made a thermos of coffee and drove up to Scout Mountain to watch the sunrise at 8000feet.  I suppose I wanted to watch, face to face, the birth of a new day — I wanted to see the dawning of possibility and then feel it actualized throughout the rest of my day.

That first touch of sun on skin is so warm and hopeful.  I can feel the bird in my chest crest, fall away, and crest again on some sweet wind of opportunity, some great and blessed tide.

I sometimes imagine the first touch of sun on skin is as warm as holding a newborn child for the first time and since the dawning of a new day is similar in some ways to the courageous push, thrust and physical submission of mothering, I think every new sun, like every fresh child, is born good unto our world.

On days like today I know we’re all going to be alright.  
There’s a strong sense of steadiness and cycles.  Laws of physics are applied to human behavior and the turn of the earth — we all suffer, we all rise and set.  
We are all hated and loved.  
We are all punished and rewarded.  
Life is unfair but life is equal. 
We celebrate our victories. 
We mourn our failures.
We carry our respective burdens on our backs, in our minds, on the plains of our hearts — each one of us hurts uniquely.  Our individual healing is distinctive.  Our wholeness of self is at once crumbling and rebuilding, newly constructed and renovated.  This is growth.  This is beauty.
This is life and life is good.

Comments

  1. I love you and your gnome hat.

  2. beautiful~
    I long for the days of wool hats, fingerless gloves, and down vests.
    xxx

  3. Beautiful…
    Just got home from a week in Wyoming and the thing I miss the most is the crisp mountain mornings spent sitting outside watching the sun rise while sipping a steamy mug of hot coffee.

  4. The Noisy Plume says

    M: x

    Andes: They're coming!!!

    Mallory: Watching a sunrise can transform a day! Watching the sun set can restore the soul. Glad you caught a few daybreaks in Wyo!

  5. You’re the cutest elf I’ve ever seen!
    To watch the sun rise is surely a glorious way to set the stage to yet another new beginning.

    We are all hated and loved.
    We are all punished and rewarded.
    Life is unfair but life is so equal.
    We celebrate our victories.
    We mourn our failures.

    Eloquent and wise. Beautiful in it’s truth.
    On another note:just finished the Tudors!
    There’s a scene when Katherine Howard looks up into the heavens with dancing eyes and softly says “ life is beautiful”.
    Gave me chills.

    Looking for beauty is an ever new endeavour with each sun rising.

    Love this post. xo

  6. it's so strange to see your fingers without rings.

    thanks for being such a big old soul. there's so much that's flown across the expanse of your soul, and there's so much more coming yet. and because we're learning to forgive and embrace and rise, there will always be more room.

    i want to be that kind of person — a woman with space in my soul, to be filled with quiet or people or songs or tassels or light.

    all things are possible through that glorious unending strength. all. things.

  7. i am grateful for the times you hold my hand when i lose sight of the path. truly. indeed.

  8. Second Melissa on the gnome hat.

    Wonderful photos and writing to match!

    When I was in high school, I founded a ritual with some friends: We'd get up before dawn, drive to the beach, and watch the sun rise over the ocean. The process was indeed like a birth, and each time we went, we felt renewed.

    x

  9. MrsLittleJeans says

    lovely photos and thoughts…I am always reminded

  10. mme. bookling says

    Our page looks similar these days, don't you think? This grappling with and appreciation of life.

    I must say that in the last few weeks of your photographic journey, I feel you've been put into a new bracket of work…a stunning, soulful, and professional capture of your life. I've been enjoying it.

  11. I LOVE that hat!!! Did you make it?

    I'm glad that I can vicariously experience sunsets and sunrises with your posts. Now that we are living in Niagara there really aren't any high points to really catch a view from. Another thing I miss from BC!

    All the best,
    Valerie

  12. Amen.

  13. "Life is unfair but life is so equal."
    w.o.w.
    just wow.
    thank you for this.
    and awesome hat and gloves, by the way. 😉

  14. Desiree Fawn says

    "I sometimes imagine the first touch of sun on skin is as warm as holding a newborn child for the first time and since the dawning of a new day is similar in some ways to the courageous push, thrust and physical submission of mothering, I think every new sun, like every fresh child, is born good unto our world."

    This.

  15. calamityjane(t) says

    i always have to read these posts out loud, softly, slowly.

    and then read them again.

  16. Sierra Keylin Jewelry says

    "Our wholeness of self is at once crumbling and rebuilding"…YES! What a beautiful statement, may we be open to this realization and recognize it with open eyes and hearts. You speak the truth sister, amen for YOUR open eyes and heart!

  17. you've never been more B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L than right now…

    X
    O

  18. Next time we'll do sunrise.

    I'll make the coffee.

    Miss you.

  19. thewindhover says

    amen to the birth of new days and thoughts and graces.

    p.s. you do look awfully delicious in your gnome hat.

  20. sung with a birds tongue in a gnome hat 😉

    glorious, plume!

  21. The Sage Leaf says

    Just perching for a few to say thank you sweets, your thoughtful pages and post reached my heartland today.

    I'm glad you know how to honor your spirit, such a vibrant one at that. Especially when you think you are soaring independently, that bright dawn, that high-wind will always lift you further, and make you that much stronger.

    'Honorar omnia estas'

    xo,
    Mac

  22. Sigh.
    I needed this reminder today.
    Thank you.

  23. chestnutmocha says

    great gnome hat! and very nice photos with some special mood!

  24. that tree nub looks like a massive spider clinging to the side of a tree… at least to me that's what I saw. 🙂

    As always I love your post.

    PS I read Outlander because you mentioned it on your blog. It was good!

  25. Love
    xo

  26. The Noisy Plume says

    Thank you ALL for being here.
    For reading this post.
    For understanding what I had to say.
    For leaving a comment…for not leaving a comment.
    I love having you here in my world.
    x