Sky Walking

“There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing.”

― Beryl Markham

Have you ever walked in a place transforms your soul?  I am sure you have.  I have had many such walks.  This particular one we took today was one to add to my "hall of fame" of walks.   

This walk was amazing.....unlike any other. It didn't seem to be on earth.....it seemed much more like walking in the sky, as we were so close to the clouds, on top of the world.  Yes.... Sky walking!  That is closer to the truth.  The meandering meadows of little yellow flowers flowed up, right up flush against the edge of its steep cliffs. The yellow looked like a spray of paint from a large brush, flicked against the canvas of the mountainside.

The Dolomites of Northern Italy.  Expansive, impressive and outstanding.  The wide green vistas are seriously unbelievable.  There was so much green it almost hurt the eyes as if looking at a glaring light.  

 "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." -Helen Keller

“It was a world as old as Time, but as new as Creation’s hour had left it.”

― Beryl Markham

“Beauty is its own excuse for being.”

― Ralph Waldo Emersono

“Nature presides in all her dignity, permitting us the study and the use of such of her forces as we may understand. It is when we presume to intimacy, having been granted only tolerance, that the harsh stick falls across our impudent knuckles and we rub the pain, staring upward, startled by our ignorance.”

― Beryl Markham

I think we saw 8 people the entire day we were there.  It literally felt like the mountain was ours.  As if we had somehow been worthy of a VIP appointment.  Our special reservation was held for this particular moment.  Knowing we would most likely never pass this way again, we lingered into the afternoon.  Knowing the 9 miles down might be in the dark.  It didn't matter....Not unlike lingering in a museum gazing at a Van Gogh for an extra few minutes, we found ourselves drawn to this place.  Lingering felt right.  Soaking in its silent reverence, and finding a place of proper awe in our hearts for the witness we were given.  It took me a few hours to finally realize that what we were supposed to "see" wasn't only with our eyes.  We were supposed to "feel" with our heart just as much.

Once my eyes (heart) was opened, it was easy to fulfill that request.

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

It isn't easy leaving a place so serene and beautiful.  The inevitability of how temporary the experience is was made clear once a path was found.  Like a gentle way of escorting us back down to where we were meant to be.  The visit was over..... time found its way back into our consciousness and we succumbed voluntarily.  Not with sadness, not with bowed heads......No, rather with a fulness of the soul, an internal knowledge that what we came to find was found.  The thirst we had was quenched.  We had drawn long and deep from the well of this water. We had experienced heaven in a small way and it left an indelible imprint in our minds.  

Years from now, when we find ourselves around a fire, a dinner or just chillin in some chairs we will look at each and just say....."Do you remember.....?" and it will come back in an instant.  The shared spark of remembrance will be as bright then as it was that day.  It will reveal itself in a shared knowing smile....Like s shared secret that just can't be shared in a way that is should.  People must find their own sky walk to truly know.

“At some part of life or the other we all become memories for others. So make sure you be a good one”

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