We went across to St Pete yesterday in time for the twilight and the skies obliged with some excellent colors and a mostly compliant cloud.
It was difficult to know when we first arrived if the cloud was going to steal the show but thankfully the sun was rising just slightly off center so that enough of its colors made it through to where we were standing.
It was wonderful to see other early birds getting out of bed on a Saturday morning and breathing in the beauty that mother nature was serving up. St Pete seems to have a pretty decent population of people that are driven by fitness or scenery or social activities, to pull back the covers and take that first step into a new day.
There were those that were walking, others jogging, some cycling, and even a spirited sunrise volleyball group that took control of the nets before the sun had the horizon. Fair play to them!
Anyway, I have a few shots at the end of the blog that I hope captured some of what we witnessed and in truth, we felt really fortunate to do so.
I hope you enjoy!
The strange thing was (and this is what drove the thought for today’s blog), I was reluctant to embrace the start of this day because my wakening interrupted a very good dream. I was in the middle of a good visit with my Dad when for some reason or other my mind decided that I had had enough and snapped me back into a reality of life without him. There wasn’t an alarm, nor a noise and Inna didn’t shake me awake. I just took a step away from a place where I was seriously happy and decided to wake up.
To say I was pissed off would be an overstatement but I was definitely disappointed in myself. Today, a day later, I still haven’t figured it out what it was that woke me.
I miss my Dad and anyone who knows me understands that he left a huge whole in my life when he went. So, what was it that tripped the switch and brought me back to this world that I live in?
And therein lies the thought that has been running around inside my mind for the past 24 hours. Retreating into our dreams can bring a wonderful counter-balance to a life we are unhappy with.
I know that some people dread their dreams, scared of nightmares and such. But for most of us, dreams are an extension of our state of mind and allow us to experience something that we can’t in the real world.
I say the “real world” but who is to say that this is the real world and the other just dreams? In fact, being godless, I often have thought that death must in many ways be that final dream that we never wake from. If we are lucky it is a good one and as we fade to black, we do so with a happy smile in our heart.
But whatever our dream experience, we should try to embrace them and understand what meaning they have for us. Sometimes, the meaning is trivial and other times profound. Sometimes we can’t even remember them when we wake up.
For my part I always take that first few waking moments and try to repeat the main aspect of the dream in my head. By so doing, I am trying to commit it in some part into my memory rather than just have it evaporate in the early morning mist.
Some of our best moments in life appear in dreams. If you are unfortunate, some of your worst moments may also.
But engaging with your dreams, understanding their origins, and occasionally finding the messages therein, can be a wonderful exercise for the mind and enriching to the existence we call life before that final one comes along.
… just a thought!
