May 18, 2011

5.17.11

today i was hiking through the still woods off old samish.  it was a beautiful but brisk day and i could see my breath.  as i came over a hill and looked down the trail before me i saw a shaved-headed, brown-robed monk walking barefoot up the path.  amid the moss-covered boulders and mysterious old cedars he looked so otherworldly and so natural that for a split second i lost my reality.

i felt certain that i'd wondered into some magical land.  i wasn't scared - just surprised.  it only lasted a moment, this fall through the looking glass, because he was followed by a normal looking guy in a patagonia fleece and hiking boots.  

i was utterly disoriented as i realized that no - this was regular reality - it just happened to contain a barefoot monk hiking to cedar lake.  after i'd passed them, exchanging pleasantries, i felt so disappointed that i hadn't somehow stumbled into a magical, mythical land.  then i re-evaluated that thought and felt incredibly overjoyed that the world i live in is so inherently magical that something like that occurs on an average tuesday.  i felt happy that life is so surprising and silly and full of possibility.

and i really wished you were there.

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