Admired by the Sun

 

Ryan and I threw together some gear and decided to go climb the cliffs in Cheaha a few weeks ago..      Sleeping beneath the winter stars, grilling sweet potatoes and jalapeno-sauteed steaks in the embers of a hand built fire, coaxing a little music out of the cold night sky..    everything simple, and everything that creates expansive thoughts.    

   After an afternoon of climbing rock faces..  our hands aching, our legs bruised and scratched, we both perched ourselves on a few boulders overlooking the valley...  both of us watching silently as the sun melted into a blue horizon.    

As we sat there staring out across the wilderness, I felt this warmth radiate through my body.. 

  something lifting, rising from our joy and exhaustion.   The best way to describe it, is to say that it was an overwhelming awareness and pleasure of my own humanity.   I felt certain, I felt significant..  in the most simple and yet dis-ordinary way.    I was glad with myself..  glad to exist on earth in this (human) way.  To climb and taste food, and wander and laugh and be aware of vast colors..      That seems common and trivial..  but I wonder if the rocks think so?   Or the if the sunset looks back towards us in the evenings and admires us too?    Because we are beautiful in our own right..    this is a remarkable experience - to be human.    I believe we admire many things about life sometimes, and forget to consider ourselves as well.       

 

   I have never been appreciative of my humanity before..      but that is changing.  

 

    

Andrew Tipton