A Walk In The Clouds

Along with crisp mornings, kids outside waiting for the school bus to come and the first signs of the leaves changing comes another signal that fall is almost here in these parts ... fog. Dense, thick, can't-see-more-than-two-feet-in-front-of-you fog. Living up here on the hill as I do, I can see it roll up the valley as it makes its way to me. These mornings become more and more prevalent the deeper into September we go. My morning walks now either have to wait until some of it burns off or require that I dress in a hoodie to keep from getting soaked. Still, there is something magical about walking in the fog.

I can remember my mother walking my sister and I to school on foggy mornings. Everything looked different. When you can't see the usual landmarks and signs, you have to rely on your experience and memory to take you in the right direction. Even sounds are muffled and distorted. What you think you know becomes something quite different when the sun comes out. To me, it felt like walking in the clouds. I used to wonder if this was where the angels lived.

My mother used to tell me that I needed to get my head out of the clouds. She meant that I spent too much time in the land of make-believe and what if? All these years later, at the tender young age of 67, I still spend a lot of my time with my head in the clouds. That's the place where miracles are born and magic happens. This is not to say that I spend all of my time there. I spend plenty of time with my feet plated firmly on the ground and rooted in what is before me in the present moment. It's just that I know I will wake up one morning surrounded by brain fog so dense that everything I thought was real has melted into the clouds. Then I am free to create something new, something magical.

It's important that we build a firm foundation for ourselves. We need something that we can count on to be there when life pulls the rug out from under us. Often that foundation is faith, or a spiritual practice that keeps us grounded. But there is something to be found in the fertile ground of our imagination that cannot be found by keeping our heads down and pushing forward. The most magical moments in our lives come when we look up and take a walk in the clouds. Who knows? You might even bump into an angel while you're there.

And so it is.