Silence

"Silence is a text easy to misread."
A.A. Attanasio 

I've often heard people negatively remark about couples sitting across from each other in restaurants who barely converse during their meal. "How sad that they have so little to say to each other... they must be so bored." 

I read a little saying the other day which might make one think twice before making such assumptions: "Some couples have grown comfortable enough with each other that they can take immense pleasure in being close without the need to fill the peaceful silence between them with unnecessary words."

Skip and I drove the "back way" home from Denver to Colorado Springs today. We chose to travel a rural two-lane highway rather than drive the 90 miles on the interstate where we spend 90% of the time dodging stupid, insane drivers and arrive home stressed and exhausted. For almost 45 minutes of our leisurely drive on this back road, the only sound in the car came from an oldies radio station I had found and Buddy, our Beagle, snoring in the back seat. Skip was reading one of his Clive Cussler novels and I was driving while gazing at everything - something I love doing when there's no traffic and the road takes us away from the busyness of city traffic. I loved the fact that we could share this space together and enjoy the silence between us without the need to converse.

I delighted in so much on this drive home. Colors. Things. Smells. Life.

Split rail fences, barbed wire fences, white wood fences - stretching for miles and miles in every direction. Marking boundaries. Keeping in the wanted. Keeping out the unwanted. Barns in every stage of decay, in various colors and shapes and sizes. Stacks and stacks of round hay bales, square hay bales. Fields of  brown sagebrush, and meadows of lush green grasses hanging on from summer. Horses, cows, goats. And an occasional hound dog. Aspen trees with leaves of gold, vibrant green pines, dead elms with their withered branches reaching skyward. An overall-clad farmer hunched over the wheel of his plugging-along tractor. A young woman in a fashionable jogging suit sprinting down the quarter-mile dirt road from her sprawling farmhouse to the mailbox by the highway. Hawks gracefully circling the open meadow for food. The carcass of a doe lying on the side of the road...a once beautiful creature who became the innocent victim of man encroaching on her territory. And the sky. The mountains. The incredible cloud formations. And the peace-filled silence between Skip and I. 

Then we turned off the country road. Skip closed his book, I paid more attention to the city-traffic and we started talking about how we should spend the rest of this wonderful day together.

Silences make the real conversations between friends. 

Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts. 

Margaret Lee Runbeck 

Friendship

"Much of the vitality in a friendship lies in the honoring of differences, not simply in the enjoyment of similarities." 

We had a book club, my friends and I. Often our time together became one of sharing the mundane and the unusual in our daily lives while the book discussion was relegated to the end of the evening. But that was Ok with this beautiful diverse group of women. It wasn't so much the intensity of our conversations that built such a strong bond between us, but rather the honoring of each others' soul. 

Pat Russell (holding the pumpkin) was in the fight of her life on this evening several years ago. For 5 years she was in constant treatment for cancer - but always living life to the fullest, smiling through the pain, and sharing with us her gift of wisdom. She died bravely and left an incredible emptiness in our hearts for a very long time. I think of this faith-filled woman often these days, remembering how she walked lightly on this earth, treating everyone she encountered with love and reverence. I hope I can leave behind such a legacy.

"True friends are never forgotten. They live within our hearts and souls forever, and always dancing on our stage of memories."

I Agree!

Went out with Skip yesterday and we stopped for lunch at Culver's. While he was getting our food, I was busy people-watching from our booth and spied this dessert menu. Nothing profound about it, just made so much sense to me, tho. Life IS short - so enjoy the ride. Eat dessert! Find things to smile about. Practice kindness. And don't let negativity rule your life.
Now, if I can keep all these in mind, it will be a delightful day.

Think snow...

Well, this is a first...me, actually writing online, for all the world to see. This is quite a concept, if I might say so. Great for ambitious writers, a wonderful place to display favorite photographs, and an incredible venue to share your life with friends and family. So, I would say this is the first day of the rest of my life -- online, that is. Enjoy the rest of the winter. (Think snow!!!)