Beauty Within. And "Without." And Pretty Much Everywhere.

It's winter in the Seattle area. This year is especially rainy, as though we are making up for the extra sunny summer that lasted clear into late October. There have been weeks of such hard rain that even I, who usually goes out in just about any weather, decided to pass. I've been stuck inside the house or the car when running kids for days in a row. Fortunately, I can exercise in the house or stop off at the mall to walk around. I used to think the mall-walkers were elderly people with nothing better to do. Now, I am one of them. It's not the age, that turns you into a mall-walker. It's that we all have reached our limits of rain and more rain. And cold rain.

While visiting my parents for Christmas, in an area where a foot of snow would normally have already settled outside their front door, we had lush green grass, warm temperatures, and more rain. I couldn't believe it. I decided that I was tired of being homebound (even though I was at a different home) so made the decision to get out of the house. Not enough snow had fallen anywhere that warranted snowshoes, but winter kept me warmer and drier than hiking boots. The cross-country skiing was really good, even though I was but an inch or two above dirt a few times. Then the fog hit but at that point, I no longer cared. I embraced it. Personally, I love fog anyway so that was fun to be in.

Despite sounding morose, one thought kept repeating in my mind. There was a beauty to what I was seeing. Yes, the lawn was green, and there was mud everywhere, but as I looked about, I kept seeing different things. The patch of snow glistening on the mountain across the road, the bare trees along the creek bank, both of which were hardly visible in the dense fog (black and white photo potential?). I began seeing things as though I were to make a photo of them. I realized there was beauty everywhere, I just had to look a little harder for it at first.

Driving up towards the ski area gained elevation, so the mud and grass became less visible as snow covered it. Ice beginning to settle across the lake, running water bubbling under ice along the creek, the silhouette of a single bird perched on a dark tree barely visible in fog above snow covered ground. After a while, even the mud and grass began to have a beauty to it.

Two thoughts ran through my mind. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and stop to smell the roses. I agree with both statements. right now, it's a little harder to find, but I'll bet you can find some beauty in the world around you!