Beyond the Clouds

 



It was a rainy cold day

But we went hiking anyway

The ground was sopping wet

The trail was hard to see

Our clothes were wet within minutes

But we went hiking anyway

We thought we were on a loop trail. We knew we were somewhere in the woods. We walked through many briers that covered the path. We climbed over fallen logs. We slipped on the water seeped trail. We crunched through the dead leaves...

Until we came to a clearing

To the left of us, stood a few trees and total whiteness. We were in the clouds. Someone commented: "This is what it is like to have no dreams."

(Pictures are not from the story's hike)

I knew what that was like. Several years before, my plan to go into a Master's degree fell through. Every dream that I imagined had been hinged on that degree. When that degree fell off the cliff, I was left watching everything else falling down after it. At the present, I was at a good place. There was nothing to worry about. The scenery around me was pleasant.

Pink and purple wild flowers covered in moisture. Bright yellow leaves hanging on trees close to the trail. Funny looking mushrooms huddled in clusters. Energetic friends ready to make the best of the situation.

But it really was pretty dull scenery.

The hiked turned out to not be a loop. The sun started coming out. We were rather disappointed in having to go back the same trail all over again. We went though the same briars, over the same logs, through the same water seeped trails, and heard the same crunch of dead leaves.

But this time something was different.

We came to a clearing

To the left of us, stood a few trees and a whole sea of colors. Mountains upon mountains were covered with color. Bright yellow, deep red, royal gold, and green sprang before our eyes. The clouds were gone. Hopefully someone thought: "This is what it is like to have dreams." 


(Pictures are not from the story's hike)

Dreams

The scenery is beautiful

It is still a hard, sticky, wet, dreary hike 

But it is worth going on again.








I like to find stories in unlikely places and connect them with unlikely subjects. Here are stories and analogies that I see as I travel around the world.

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