This Life

I am strolling up and along an unfamiliar coastal trail, slowly making my way to its highest point. I can smell the salt air, as I drink in the ocean view and distant horizon. Such quiet moments in nature often surface memories long forgotten. This time it is of a bronze statue in Scotland that I once loved of two figures on a bench gazing out at a placid lake.

I am contemplating the memory of the statue, the calmness of the ocean, my rhythmic footfall over dry leaves when I suddenly come upon two figures sitting on a stone bench with their backs to me. They are no more than twenty yards away, two women in their later years gazing out at the Pacific. One has white, short, wispy hair; the other has hints of gray woven through a thick, cocoa braid. Their bodies, both gentle and sturdy, could have been cast from the same mold.

They are all stillness. They could be statues. But their energy is palpable.

Not a word passes between them. And yet I sense a conversation in progress.

I take one quiet step closer. I am affected by their solitary yet dynamic field of relatedness. I watch them scan the scene, each in their own way, content yet so present in the experience. A dance of vitality and serenity.

Without them ever knowing, I join them in this compelling dance. With it comes a deep sense of aliveness and peace. From this ground, it is as if they are saying, “It is only this life that matters—yours, mine, ours together with all living beings—this life with all the nuances of challenges and breathtaking bounty.”

This life.

Thank you for the reminder.