Walking. To Unclenched.

~ Live & Learn

3:50 a.m.

I’m up.

Groggy from Tylenol PM. I stare at the clock, do the math, a whopping 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Whaddya know! 1 day in a row! 

The euphoria burns off quickly. An 8 a.m. appointment weighs heavily. I punch out a few notes for the meeting on my laptop, close the lid, needing at least a full hour to prep for the call.  Unfinished. Unprepared. Anxious. I drag the three horsemen with me as I head out the door.

I’m off.

The Head is not in this game this morning.  That is, my 5-mile walk around Cove Island to start the day. It’s Month 4 of day after day after consecutive day of 90-minute twilight walks. You could have passed on the morning walk, finished your prep to take a load off, but Nooooo. That’s not how you roll.

I’m rushing.  I’m not Here. I’m not There. I’m a bit everywhere. I need to cut my loop short and hurry back.

I tuck the camera away, I’m half way home. I pick up the pace.

I glance over to my right to The Cove. It is Still. Birdless. And the water, is an orange, shimmering sheet of ice.

Overhead, the honking of Canada Geese breaks the silence. They splash land in the cove directly in front of me.

I stop to watch.

Then Egrets, a large flock.  Huge white wings, circle the same area of The Cove, flaps out, land softly in low tide.

This show is then followed by herons. Another large flock, which circles overhead landing in same location.

I crawl over the guard rail, swinging my sling from front to back to grab my camera.  As I do so, birds continue to descend from the skies.  Goose bumps.

The sheer size of the bird population exceeds the view of my lens. I have no wide angle to capture the entire scene.

I scramble to find the video switch on the camera, I can’t locate it. Don’t know how to do it. Have never done it.  Ughhh.

Frustrated, I stuff the camera back in the bag.

I watch.

For the next three minutes, this Wonder pushes away Work-World, and I find myself feeling it all. Feeling like Jennifer Pastiloff,

“I was feeling…

What else could it be? …

I was letting go.

I felt myself unclench.”

 

42 thoughts on “Walking. To Unclenched.”

    1. Hi Martha. Yes, I jammed it all in there. I have a talent in Jamming a ton of things into small spaces and raising my blood pressure to stratospheric levels. Healthy, right?!?! What type of Camera – Fuji X-T4. Thanks for the nice thoughts Martha. Have a great weekend.

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  3. It’s when we push ourselves to do the thing we are not feeling that we feel the most 🙂
    I’m glad you are you didn’t skip your walk and were left spellbound until you unclenched by the view before you. And, I’m glad you couldn’t figure out how to use the video option as you put it all away and simply watched and were in the moment. We often forget to do that when we have the camera stuck to our eye.

    BTW, I have the video capacity on my camera but can never use it because my card is too small. Seriously, the number of times I could video something (way better than my phone) I curse myself for not getting off my butt and getting a card with more capacity.

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  6. Beautiful!
    3:50AM? Ungodly hour. it’s 83 deg at 6:15 AM here. Brutal!
    I don’t recall seeing that hour on the clock ever. And multi-tasking too? walking, filming, feeling, worrying (cursing). I can barely do one of these tasks at any one time.
    Keep on sharing this terrific scenery mon ami

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  8. So glad that you uncoiled that spring, if only for a few moments. And while I’m sure a video would have been lovely, the photo is equally beautiful and after snapping, you clearly immersed yourself in the moment. And at the end of the day, so to speak, that is the point. 🙂

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  10. You are going to have so much fun this fall! Get your wide-angle lense ready. Eagerly waiting for the DK Fall Collection.

    Sometime ago I read something along the lines that all the universe really asks of us is to let it pass through. To be a channel.
    And the universe notices when we are open for it to go through. It looks like this morning so much, a river of its magic passed through you 🙏🏻

    Thank you for sharing. And the photos are captivating.

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  11. Joyed that you had such a memorable experience where your Soul breathed in Wonder!!! while you floated in awe…thanks for sharing the photos and your written account.
    We know a secret place to go watch the Whales, we watch while the camera is tucked away…we sit on a bench or walk about 20 feet to the cove…we know other spots to view the Whales, which we love though usually there are others viewing as well..though sometimes not!!! and we think how magical the moments are and fortunate we are and I think that so many driving past have no idea what they’re missing ./// I wonder if Jim Duffy used to see similar views as you, early in the morning from his former home on Brush Island Rd on the other side of The Cove… is the other-side is in Darien, right? Hoping you print & frame some of your beautiful photos. Has Eric been taking some photos recently?’ Each breath is a gift”…

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  17. WOW! What you expressed/described I have almost felt… as if I watched too with my own eyes… This is great experience…Thank you dear David, Love, nia

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