The sky was crazy yesterday, covered by a dark grey overcast for a few minutes, then clear, then gauzy with ribbons of high cloud, then overloaded with fluffy cumulus, then clear. And so on and so on.
The spring sky is always turbulent in Washington DC, changeable. It's a great reminder that we're here today but it could all change tomorrow, or even later today for that matter.
I like the reminder because the truth that everything has its moment, after which that moment passes, helps me feel intimately connected with the cycle of life as it always has been, as it always will be, at least on this beautiful blue marble of a planet.
Aging in my society is not a pleasant or easy undertaking. It's "not for sissies" as Bette Davis said. Though no one I know would admit it, I believe the underlying thought-form about aging is that somehow it's unnatural, that it's a disorder which should be avoided at all costs. Talk about denial! Wow.
So when I watch the clouds race by overhead, leaving not a trace of themselves behind, when the seasons turn, the days lengthen - then shorten - then lengthen again, I feel encouraged, cheered on my Mama Nature. The prevailing ideas about aging are, just like everything, short-lived and will shift or disappear sooner or later.
Every dog has his day. I've had most of mine, now I am beginning the process of decline. No need to be alarmed, I tell myself on days like yesterday. This is what's supposed to happen. It's all good. Oh yeah.
What you're seeing above took less than five minutes to unfold.
19 comments:
All of us have been caught lying on the ground gazing at the passing clouds. There is beauty there at that moment and all around. I like how you caught this moment on a video too. Wonderful post!
Alas! The beauty
of the flowers has faded
and come to nothing,
while I have watched the rain
lost in melancholy thought.
-Ono no Komachi, on the fleetingness of beauty. She is the Japanese embodiment of the aging beauty. (9th century)
clouds are so amazing.
birth, growth, decline, death, birth.
no birth without death, no growth without decline.
I am declining and I accept that, not ready for it to end, but joyful in this stage.
Ellen, me too - well - mostly I'm joyous. I have my days when I'm kind of shocked to realize my age.
It is what it is...I feel frustrated with life when it is put on hold- like being in a huge amusement park and all the rides require something that I have not got...and it is dusk. Not much time left. Being imprisoned would be worse than death, I think.
Your clip of sky is wonderful , yup, it is what it is, there and gone, and there again but never identically the same.
yeah reya, you know we're so like clouds . . . actually i was awake in the middle of last night as the wind rumpussed about outside and i was thinking how probably i'm just a cloud of energy billowing out from the one great cloud and coalescing in the form of me and then one day i'll melt back in and reappear as another cloud baby! i'm all good with that! steven
Beautiful words & images. What you said about our society's view of aging is so right on:
"Though no one I know would admit it, I believe the underlying thought-form about aging is that somehow it's unnatural, that it's a disorder which should be avoided at all costs."
Great post--thanks!
Even with its aches and pains, I love being my age (58) and look forward happily to the years ahead, if they come. The added wisdom and equanimity more than compensates for the loss of vigor and energy.
And, I'll admit it here in the comments section of your blog, I'm happy to have lost most of the intensity of the male sex drive I once suffered from.
Am I the only person in America to notice that pre sexual children and post sexual elderly people seem generally a lot happier than sex-obsessed thirty somethings?
I probably am.
reminds me of my Zen board where even a masterpiece fades as the water dries...
such lovely photos!
Dan I DO NOT miss the hormones. Whew!! How GREAT of you to admit it!
Those hormonal imperatives lead to all kinds of flopping around. Yep. I like being 57. I do.
In these few words and pictures you have said so much. And I just love your readers' comments. holy cow, I can't add anything as wise as they have already come up with.
All living things end, sooner or later. We can't fight natural decline; we can accept and work with it to enjoy every minute we have.
To everything there is a season...only at the rate the clouds sometimes pass over, the seasons sometimes seem in a big hurry.
Am loving the direction this is going in.....
second childhood here I come
not having to care if one is cool or glam
and not being jealous any more really
how liberating it all is
Yes, Reya the clouds stun!
Just got back from walking Max. I was cloud gazing and listening to the birds and thinking how lucky we are to have these moments of renewal--aging like change is part of the process --always moving onward--thanks for a beautiful post and photos. Btw, whatever your age, your wear it well!
I think I begin to understand the youth is about physicality and age is about intellect.
I think longer, more easily and more productively now.
And I'm content with watching my kids do the moving. I still move, but I think it's usually with a purpose.
Truly amazing cloud day you had. Round and round we go!
the movement of the clouds is very cool.
I'm sorry you're missing Jake so much. I'm missing Maggie, my cat, terribly. Amazing the power of another creature over us...
"In decline" is definitely not the phrase that comes to mind when I think of you, Reya!
Maybe as the body declines, the spirit grows stronger and more youthful.
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