Sometimes I look forward, sometimes I look back. Feel free to tell us your last, or your next most beautiful thing. And if you're happy with your now, well cheers. My last most beautiful thing was teaching some kids how not to get stung by a wasp. We were doing an Inner City Outings hike along Rock Creek, and some yellow-jackets dropped in on our picnic. The kids would flinch and slap, which is of course the best way to get stung.
So I picked up a piece of bread with a wasp on it, and showed them how beautiful wasps are, the cute fuzz on their backs, the way they clean their antennae, the snip-chew of their mandibles, and how peacefully happy a being exploring a delicious piece of food that's 10x bigger than they are can be. Wasps are always a hard sell, but a rewarding one, as a nature lesson. And no one got stung.
The next most beautiful thing is a place I haven't been in awhile, kayaking on the Potomac River. I've got an old scratched-up Perception Swifty that has taken me to many beautiful places. I'm not that much of a white-water freak, but I love being able to slip into a river and immerse in nature.
My car died a few weeks back, which means I haven't been out on the river. Which is a sacred place for me. I go there through the seasons, watch the changes, and learn from each visit. It's not productive, like other parts of my life, and often I feel guilty about wanting to be on the river, when I have so much work to catch up on, but there is something essential about the river, and nature to me - it's a place that a need to be.
So tomorrow's going to be warm and sunny, fall's in full flare, the deer are probably in rut, and the river's calling. Manana!
And you? What's the last/next most beautiful thing you have/will experience(d)?