Beauty

When I hear the term “beauty” my mind instantly goes to women. I don’t think I have ever met a woman I didn’t like. They always have some feature that I find attractive, and it’s an easy thing to find several. Physically it could be her eyes, lips, hair, and yes, boobs or legs. Sometimes physical beauty doesn’t extend beyond the exterior. Other times a woman’s inner beauty is her best feature and can be the most endearing. But today, my mind goes in other directions.

I slowly become aware that I am waking up to another day. When I manage to pry my eyes open from A) a deep sleep, or B) a restless night, I can see sky above my head. Instead of a headboard, I have a window by my head. Unless it is very hot, very cold, or raining hard, it is usually open. The cool night air seems to help me sleep, especially when I am buried under the weight of a warm blanket.

I normally awake to the singing songs of twittering birds. I don’t know why they think they have to start at 5 AM, but like when my alarm clock used to go off, I can almost always go back to sleep. But even at 5 AM, there is a certain beauty to their music.

Eventually, a cool scent of dewy grass drifts into my brain as the sun begins to creep in through my window and into my eyes. The bright rays of light bring with them a comforting warmth. Without getting out of bed, I know that sunshine will be hitting the dew on the grass and glistening like icicles in winter. An early morning breeze usually starts green leaves fluttering in the trees. Their quiet rush of sound will be a song of its own that always seems to be telling me some secret of life that I will never be able to clearly understand. Maybe it is trying to inform me that beauty is all around. I just have to take time to see it.

Most of my life I was busy working, or just trying to get through life. I can’t say that I have had a difficult life, but it was tedious in that I rarely had time to just enjoy all the beauty around me. I always seemed to be starting the next project, immediately after finishing the last.

While I have always enjoyed the beauty of women, music, and art (in that order) the natural wonders just seemed to be there as background noise or something to see at some point at an undetermined future time.

As I get older, and slower, the world seems to spin faster and envelope me more, quietly suggesting that I stop and pay attention to the wonders around me. I have become more aware of simple beauty like blue sky, sunshine, and pleasant breezes.

I always thought that when I retired, I would get a small motor home and my curious mind would head out to see all the wonders this Nation has to offer. I’m pretty sure I have reached that point where my bucket list has grown longer than my time to achieve it, and my lust for adventure is now far greater than my body can endure.

I still get out into the beauty, but I’m sure I can mark hiking across the Grand Canyon of my list of things that I think I will actually do. When I do get out, I usually try to capture the beauty with photography. This photo is from a recent trip to Upper Michigan. 

 

My appreciation of beauty seems to be getting stronger as I get older. Maybe I just have more time to notice it. When I do, it brings a certain peace to my mind and soul.

What kind of beauty can affect your disposition?