Moonlight hid the beauty, the mountains, the distant snow and the intense green that the P.N.W owns all rights to. And I drove safely south into the dry, brown, scrub-ridden land of Southern California. (This photo must have been taken in Spring when the few drops of rain San Diego gets each year have just fallen.)
Some people see beauty when they look out over the umber-hued landscape. They feel their souls fill with the unique joy that intense beauty can bring.
Several years ago, during our original foray in So. Cal, I spoke to my brother shortly after he moved from San Diego to the mountains of Northern California. He was giddy as he described the *green* leaves in the middle of summer and the deer that roamed his neighborhood.
I cried when we finally hung up. Not because I missed my brother, but because I missed soul-filling beauty. I'd felt such beauty when I studied in Scotland and for years, I was convinced that God meant for me to live in Scotland.
I've never made it back, but I have found other land that inspires my imagination.
Chicago 'burbs? The prairie near our house was awesome to me... a golden, wild, untouched 5 acre field.
Detroit 'burbs? Yes. And yes. And yes some more. I adore the Michigan land. During the 13 months we lived there, I fell in love with the trees and the water and the snow and the innocence of open land. Not just a "Nature Preserve" like in Chicago or a park like in San Diego, but miles and miles of untainted rivers and forests.
Washington State? Beautiful, without a doubt. Full of possibility, full of farmland, full of water. But it didn't provide the same rush of emotion that Michigan did. But it sure as heck gave my mind a lot of room for inspiration.
Not feeling it here in San Diego. Truth be told, I generally refuse to look at the ugliness around me. If I did, I'd probably change the area's precipitation pattern for the year with all my wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Of course I'm not depending on my surroundings to determine my inner happiness. No, my inner happiness is bolstered by my husband, my daughters (even when they incessantly bicker) and my far-away family.
And that, my friends, is what I concentrate on when I drive around the area and see nothing but scrub. The only tears this place is going to see are happy ones.
Chicago 'burbs? The prairie near our house was awesome to me... a golden, wild, untouched 5 acre field.
Detroit 'burbs? Yes. And yes. And yes some more. I adore the Michigan land. During the 13 months we lived there, I fell in love with the trees and the water and the snow and the innocence of open land. Not just a "Nature Preserve" like in Chicago or a park like in San Diego, but miles and miles of untainted rivers and forests.
Washington State? Beautiful, without a doubt. Full of possibility, full of farmland, full of water. But it didn't provide the same rush of emotion that Michigan did. But it sure as heck gave my mind a lot of room for inspiration.
Not feeling it here in San Diego. Truth be told, I generally refuse to look at the ugliness around me. If I did, I'd probably change the area's precipitation pattern for the year with all my wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Of course I'm not depending on my surroundings to determine my inner happiness. No, my inner happiness is bolstered by my husband, my daughters (even when they incessantly bicker) and my far-away family.
And that, my friends, is what I concentrate on when I drive around the area and see nothing but scrub. The only tears this place is going to see are happy ones.
2 comments:
I hope you are getting settled in and remember, home is where the heart is.
I understand about missing beauty. It's so hard being stuck in the city knowing that God's glory filled creation is not far away but you can't get there. *hugz*
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