We glided down the road, the bike going all by itself. The tires spun, but the world had stopped. Time was immeasurable because there was no need for it. A tree stood in the middle of the field, consumed in beauty from each unseen root to the tips on each branch. My eyes scanned the view, soaking it in as well as it could. No danger, no hurt, no sadness or solemnity could be found here in this place. There was no single thought contained by words that passed my mind, but simply bliss. The sunshine reached down to the earth and filled it as a whole, sinking into each object and each space it could find until there was no more room. Each branch on each tree was coated with it, each blade of grass was gentled by it and the breeze itself seemed to be singing. It is sometimes hard to describe such a thing with only words, with all I see. I was not in a reality, but here with the leaves and the grass blades, with the few bugs who were staying for winter, with each hair on the mane of the horses we had just left, with each deer that rest in the field to our left. A small house, white with green shutters, sat slightly to the left of the middle of a field, not intruding upon a single thing but simply enjoying its time with the field. The air was cool but the whole place was warm, as if it were all connected. Every bit of joy flowed from one thing to the next. I believe that “bit of joy” is an oxymoron, because joy does not come in bits or solid items but you find it everywhere, within and resting on top of everything. Our bike ride was short, but one of the many fulfilling experiences I had had in my life.

Although I do love to catch moments in pictures, create moments in drawings, bring metaphors to life with pencils, and create or fix with tools of the like, I have known ever since I was very young that this is life. It is a shame that so many people just... miss it. They fly right by.