Thinking Out Loud Again Chronicles
Perfect Moments

November 20, 2011
By: Diane Szczepanski

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself. ~
Henry Miller US author (1891 - 1980)

Every year the maple tree in my backyard has literally one, just ONE, what my minds eye considers 'perfect', day of fall color.

I wait for it every year. The day its summer green leaves have turned to a depth of golden yellow that I now recognize as it's deepest graduation of color it will achieve for it's season.

If I'm fortunate enough, on that perfect day, it's chromatic shade will be contrasted by a sky so blue as to be surreal and will create the crowning opportunity to gaze upon it's fleeting beauty.

I was lucky again this year.

I stood in awe of the canvas in front of me, head bent back, eyes scanning upward, for what seemed like an eternity.

Forgetting a hectic day, forgetting the rude sales clerk, forgetting the housework waiting for me inside. Forgetting "myself" as the quote above suggests.

The world IS rich.

There are so many "perfect moments" around us. In music, books, nature, our children, friends, family and even in the strangers around us.

Do you look for them on a regular basis?

I do.

That moment when the sun fades into the lavender sky. The exactness ripeness of a banana. The moving crescendo in a well composed song. The breathtaking imagery an accomplished author can conjure in my mind. The softness of my favorite, well worn slippers. The unexpected kind gesture of a stranger.

"Forget yourself."

Try to shake off ugliness of the depressing news, the rudeness of society, the rage of impatient drivers and the reality of life not always being perfect.

Find your moments of beauty and peace and a means to escape some of the harshness of our world.

As Henry Miller said so well, "Develop interest in life as you see it". Those moments are out there for us all, just waiting to be appreciated.

You may only have one minute, or hour or like my maple tree, just one perfect day to drink in that which nourishes YOUR soul.

But, to find those moments, are like finding a slice of heaven.