Take a Breathe

We passed a girl wearing a stunning black feather in her hair..
"Where did you get that?", I asked, mesmerized.
"Down by the lake.. there are a few more there I think." she smiled broadly, and reached up, gently brushing her dark hair away from her face.
The feather fit her.. it looked organic, almost like she had always been wearing it. I am amazed at the way some people flow with nature... sometimes there is almost no distinction between them and the trees, or a sunset, or the whatever beauty may be surrounding them at that moment.
As she walked away, I stared, intrigued at the simple elegance of her motion.
I found three feathers by the lake. Each extraordinary by its own right. Two slender black feathers.. so dark that they shimmered iridescently in the afternoon sunlight. One very long feather, full of body and strength.. I'm sure the previous owner regrets losing it. There is something completely uncommon about a feather.. the way it moves, the texture, the lightness.. it is majestic and natural in the same space.
I placed all three in my bag, and then tossed myself beneath maple tree for shade. Letting my camera drop to the grass, I leaned back into the smooth trunk behind me, and took a breathe.
It was the first breathe I had taken all day (the first breathe I payed attention to) and I felt it as it came in: The deep swell of the lungs, the gentle delicious taste of life sweeping down inside my body.
It is a good feeling to be where you are.. to breathe the moment, mentally capturing the details that can often slip by so fleetingly.
As I sat under the maple tree.. I slowed my thoughts, and let myself only consider one thing: Inhale...... exhale... inhale.... exhale... such a simple thought, yet at the same time it put me in the center of my own world - the experience of the moment opened up to me.. I noticed the shade of blue beyond the clouds, I noticed the edge of the shadows left by the leaves above me, I noticed the faces of the people strolling by.. the day that I had been wandering through.. became alive and vivid!

I placed one of the feathers in my van window, stuck one in the pages of my journal, and one is still inside my bag.. they are reminders to take a breathe.. to take a deliberate moment, and breathe in my world; breathing you deep inside me someplace where I will keep you and remember how good it was to be here right now.
Belle Aujour'hui, thank you for this day.





Andrew Tipton