Slow, simple and small

Small beams of warm sunlight shine down amidst the heavy scent of pine as I hike through the trees. Birds chirp and the wind whistles effortlessly in the tree tops as I close my eyes and just listen. 

Weather fascinates me. It’s constantly moving, never still. Quietly forming all around in a simple but powerful cycle, endlessly building and releasing.   

It’s springtime here in the Rockies which usually means weather can be pretty unstable, even kinda scary. Hot, cold, snow, rain - a potpourri of uncertainty, sometimes all in the same day.  Normally I hike with intention of giving myself an hour out and back but today after a late start, the fluffy white clouds are bubbling up from behind the mountains at a pretty fast clip. Even my hiking buddy, Ralph is sensing something brewing, quietly woofing at the distant thunder. 

From experience, I know weather here can turn violent quickly so it’s wise to be off the mountain by early afternoon. It strikes me how similar weather is to our present-day world storm.  

It grows slowly, hardly noticed as it picks up speed until the slow, simple and small get overrun by another force of nature – the virus. A pandemic arises and suddenly in an instant all the artificial speed and scale we so revere gets blown away. 

Today’s storm is intense, full of hail and fury. As it rolls in, I dodge spidery streaks of lightning and thunder hurrying to get home to safety. Along the way I find I’m oddly appreciating the force and awe of nature, contrasting its beauty with the pain and suffering in the world today. 

We make it home safely. The storm passes and the weather clears but, the world has a new normal. 

I’ve learned that to understand weather, you have to take the time to experience it firsthand, uninterrupted. Be prepared. Be alert and aware of small changes in the weather.  Same is true for the virus and all the dangers around us. Simple, really. 

But like breaks in the weather, we too come together each evening to yell and bang our pots at the pandemic, celebrating those few among us bravely manning the front lines.  

Like the weather, the world has slowed for a while reminding me there is always a price to pay and things to give up when we get ahead of human speed lest we remember the slow, simple and small.