Peaceful comfort
Great evening. I've just gotten back into my room after being gone for a little more than an hour. The weather is so warm here, was in the low 70s today, and is still above 60 outside, so I decided to go play my guitar outside, since I've not been able to do so in quite some time. Actually, it's been awhile since I've played at all, and I can already feel the pain in my fingers. In any case, I didn't feel like playing in my usual spot (secluded, but not quite enough). I wanted to get away from campus, to enjoy being outside, in nature. To revel in the night. So I walked over to the nearby park and found myself a quiet hill to sit on. I was just so calm, so peaceful. Away from the lights, away from the noise, just calm. Only myself there. Just my guitar and my voice.
Today was a day like any other, nothing special, but out there tonight, I was just at ease. It was beautiful. I've not felt this happy in awhile. I didn't have to deal with my stress, the situations pressing in on me. Things forgotten, things not found, time constraints. None of it. I just had me. Outside in God's beautiful creation. The clouds moving, thick, but revealing stars as they passed over. Tress creaking in the wind. So quiet. So serene. So beautiful. I've not been able to experience something like this since I left home. Though nothing compares to the nights spend on the pad, tonight was a refreshing change. That is one thing I do miss about being in Asheville. (Funny how I'm reluctant to call it home now, for I find my home somewhere else...) The times I spent at the pad, nothing can compete with them. At night it's so clear. Growing up in the city, I'd never seen stars, not like this. Not even in the fields in Indiana, away from the city. No, here in the mountains, with little ambient light, if any, clear Carolina skies, no clouds. You can see so much. Not a dark spot in the sky. And looking down on the valley, with the two towns lit up. The cool breeze blowing across the ridge. I find much in those times, and tonight was a mere taste of what I have back there. But all the same, I dont think I've been this relaxed, this content, this happy in some time.
I'm remembering the night I spent with Sarah in December. The night for remembering. But during that evening we spent awhile at the lake. On a lifeguard's chair, just looking out at the sky, listening to the water, and just talking. Silence would fall from time to time, but it was a beautiful silence. The waves crashing on the shore. Wind whipping across the lake. Even the sounds from the city. It all just melded together into an experience. So many good things from that night, I won't go on, for I could write in detail of so many things. That has to be one of the best nights I've ever had. And it is so much richer to have been able to share it with someone close to me. That is one of the greatest things I desire. The ability to share times of beauty with someone, someone who appreciates them as much as I do.
As I think on times spent with Sarah, it is those times that I cherish. Times like those, words need not be spoken, though at times we do discuss. But many times we just enjoy the moment. God's beauty. The more I think, the more I realize that there have been many of those times with her. In NC, Chicago, Elmhurst, it doesnt matter where. Finding and appreciating something. Even just laying next to each other, gazing, and singing harmony and melody to the songs that play. I don't know of anyone else whom I could share something like that with. The appreciation isn't there with others. The total comfort I feel. Comfortable. Peaceful. It's like nothing else. There's always a connection, but it is so apparent at times like those, it simply cannot be denied. It was known, though not spoken at that night. And yet, that made the night that much more beautiful. It didn't have to be like that for us to be able to appreciate the evening. But how much sweeter those times are when things are that way. In those times, things are intimate. That closeness. Both intense and serene. Passionate and calm. Those times are so peaceful, and yet they do more to strengthen us than any other event. I am truly blessed.
But for now I enjoy these times alone, and yet the beauty is still there. When I stopped playing tonight, I didn't want to leave. It was as though I was in another world, another place, and how reluctant I was to come back to the dorm, back to campus, back to the normal. I wanted nothing more than to stay the night out there, it was so peaceful. So comfortable. It was all I needed. Songs sang, music played, prayers spoken. And then the quiet. I anticipate then next time I will be able to enjoy such an evening.
Today was a day like any other, nothing special, but out there tonight, I was just at ease. It was beautiful. I've not felt this happy in awhile. I didn't have to deal with my stress, the situations pressing in on me. Things forgotten, things not found, time constraints. None of it. I just had me. Outside in God's beautiful creation. The clouds moving, thick, but revealing stars as they passed over. Tress creaking in the wind. So quiet. So serene. So beautiful. I've not been able to experience something like this since I left home. Though nothing compares to the nights spend on the pad, tonight was a refreshing change. That is one thing I do miss about being in Asheville. (Funny how I'm reluctant to call it home now, for I find my home somewhere else...) The times I spent at the pad, nothing can compete with them. At night it's so clear. Growing up in the city, I'd never seen stars, not like this. Not even in the fields in Indiana, away from the city. No, here in the mountains, with little ambient light, if any, clear Carolina skies, no clouds. You can see so much. Not a dark spot in the sky. And looking down on the valley, with the two towns lit up. The cool breeze blowing across the ridge. I find much in those times, and tonight was a mere taste of what I have back there. But all the same, I dont think I've been this relaxed, this content, this happy in some time.
I'm remembering the night I spent with Sarah in December. The night for remembering. But during that evening we spent awhile at the lake. On a lifeguard's chair, just looking out at the sky, listening to the water, and just talking. Silence would fall from time to time, but it was a beautiful silence. The waves crashing on the shore. Wind whipping across the lake. Even the sounds from the city. It all just melded together into an experience. So many good things from that night, I won't go on, for I could write in detail of so many things. That has to be one of the best nights I've ever had. And it is so much richer to have been able to share it with someone close to me. That is one of the greatest things I desire. The ability to share times of beauty with someone, someone who appreciates them as much as I do.
As I think on times spent with Sarah, it is those times that I cherish. Times like those, words need not be spoken, though at times we do discuss. But many times we just enjoy the moment. God's beauty. The more I think, the more I realize that there have been many of those times with her. In NC, Chicago, Elmhurst, it doesnt matter where. Finding and appreciating something. Even just laying next to each other, gazing, and singing harmony and melody to the songs that play. I don't know of anyone else whom I could share something like that with. The appreciation isn't there with others. The total comfort I feel. Comfortable. Peaceful. It's like nothing else. There's always a connection, but it is so apparent at times like those, it simply cannot be denied. It was known, though not spoken at that night. And yet, that made the night that much more beautiful. It didn't have to be like that for us to be able to appreciate the evening. But how much sweeter those times are when things are that way. In those times, things are intimate. That closeness. Both intense and serene. Passionate and calm. Those times are so peaceful, and yet they do more to strengthen us than any other event. I am truly blessed.
But for now I enjoy these times alone, and yet the beauty is still there. When I stopped playing tonight, I didn't want to leave. It was as though I was in another world, another place, and how reluctant I was to come back to the dorm, back to campus, back to the normal. I wanted nothing more than to stay the night out there, it was so peaceful. So comfortable. It was all I needed. Songs sang, music played, prayers spoken. And then the quiet. I anticipate then next time I will be able to enjoy such an evening.