Unchanced grace

It caught my eye and bid me stay. I knelt and allowed my body to become quiet.  Venturing on, time to get back to the house, up the path I saw a woman approach.  I giggled. Her skin so white in such bright sun, shorts and a tank top, only her face was protected by her big floppy hat.  As we approached she bellowed “Hello!” I giggled out loud and bellowed back “Hello.”  

She was older than I first thought, at least my age or perhaps a bit older.  She asked if I would mind taking a picture of her “so she could see” and immediately struck a camera pose.  I giggled again, and asked if she would move to the right just a bit.  I wanted the full strength of the mountain behind her.  She moved and again struck a camera pose.  Yet another giggle, I bellowed to her “Now say ‘It is a glorious day!’” She returned my giggle, her shoulders dropped and relaxed as her hands lifted to heaven, lifting her face and big floppy hat. “It is a glorious day!”  The camera clicked.  Looking in the viewer, she said not a word, only a sigh.  My hands, for some reason, went to my heart and I bowed, “It is a glorious day. Enjoy.”  She looked at me, and with a sigh, her hands went to her own heart, and she bowed her head, “Yes, it is a glorious day.”  And we parted.

As I walked down the path I thought of the flower that bid me linger. Not really a flower, it was still a bud waiting to unfold.  If I had not paused, perhaps the lady and I would not have met.  I would have been off the path we traveled together.  I paused again and bowed to the earth and her rhythm.  Nature’s order. The gentle walk of the seasons.  To trust the pauses and then to walk… it is a glorious day…I bellowed. I may just have to buy me a big floppy hat.