• Home
  • My Story
  • The Story
  • Blog
  • speaking and sharing
  • Contact

Be in it

Stories from the world

an examination of universal themes

Ideas for how to live a valuable life
Subscribe to WEEKLY BLOG

Look down

1/9/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
The mist turns into a sprinkle as I stride away from the door. By the time I’m at the top of the driveway it is rain. 

It has been raining in the mountains everyday since we arrived; the bush is thoroughly wet. The few cut stone steps that lead to the top of the path shimmer in the reduced light of the long evening. I’m walking fast and try a trot along the brief flat before the first stair section. I try to look up, the track grabs my attention back.  

The path is a pure descent from the ridge to the valley floor. Water is everywhere. Rock steps. Sodden bark. Bright ferns span the path in exuberant green, the fronds look like they are having the best week of their life.  

Every granite rock step is laden with leaves. They are thick and saturated. There have been few footprints in the last weeks and the leaves are king. I look down carefully. The top leaves are slick with the rain that is now dropping haphazardly though the canopy. The middle layer of leaves are stuck together in small clumps, ready to shift and slide as a block. The bottom leaves are breaking down, wet and hot and dense, packed together and beginning to think like dirt. I keep my eyes down as I descend. 

The steps beside the cliff finish and a dirt path takes over. Dirt and mud and water dance around the occasional boulders. I chance a look up into the trees, my ankle flips and I look down again immediately. “Look down Mike."

The light decreases as I move quickly down. The opposite valley wall rushes towards me as I approach the bottom. There is more brown at the bottom, the green becomes serious and heavy. I look down as I push through the leaves and branches reaching across the track. 

The creek at the valley floor is guarded by a massive granite turtle head. Its gigantic yawning jaw could swallow a small car. I stand still next to the rushing creek and look up. The world is above me, tangled trees and fat foliage, thick sky and cool rain. I stand still on a mossy rock and look up. There is light and air and space up there. The path home is that way, I look down.   
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    High school teacher
    Ultimate Frisbee fanatic 
    Dachshund lover
    ​Mike Neild

    Picture

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All

    Themes

    • Challenge is opportunity
    • Perspective and reality
    • Your experience is unique
    • ​The task of life, be in it

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • My Story
  • The Story
  • Blog
  • speaking and sharing
  • Contact