I biked through this storm today and it was utterly liberating.
People ask me all the time what I do when I am bike touring and it rains. The truth is, I never know until I am in the moment. My instinct is to look for the clearing in the clouds and chase the sun, with an almost purposefully absent mind for the darkness before the light. Which is a great metaphor for both the blessing and curse of how I see life. If I would have taken a note from the cows today, who were hunkered down under a tree and bracing for discomfort, then I should have taken shelter at the first sign of dark clouds. But I didn’t listen. Today, I considered both approaches- chase the light or wait out the storm. And everything in my spirit screamed a third option- go straight through the darkness. And I did. And it was wild. Strong. Cold. Windy. A force of nature truly working against me, while I wrestled right back. And I was soaked, and pedaling fast, and pushing into the strong headwind, and getting side-splashed by cars, and squinting to see through sheets of rain pounding on my face. And under my helmet and dripping face, I was wearing a smile that felt like I was a kid again. It’s not often in everyday life we get to be gritty and visceral and astonished. But wrestling with nature can take you right to the most primitive and tangible experiences, awakening all of your senses, making you feel alive in new and unleashing ways. At the end of this dark tunnel of rain was a triple rainbow bursting out of Lake Michigan. I had never seen a rainbow that close, that colorful, that bright, that many at once. But boy, was it beautiful.
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AuthorKatie Elizabeth: Writer, Wonderer, Wanderer. Archives
April 2022
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