Vistas

Today I’m grateful for vistas.  Whenever I had sad spell or blue day, when I was younger and living in my hometown, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, I’d sit and look at the vista of Lake Michigan.  Coping mechanisms learned in your youth often carry over to adulthood.

I don’t have too many sad spells or blue days lately and I certainly don’t live near as impressive a body of water as Lake Michigan, but there are still vistas.  Any vista with water will do the trick.  Rocks, mountains and even city views are calming, too, but not like water.  Staring out at expanses of water is like a very deep, core sigh.  Colors look sharper.  Sounds are clearer.  My mind gets calmer.  If the water is rushing and noisy and powerful I feel a kind of unexplainable strength.  If it’s calm, with few ripples, I feel an indescribable peace.  If it kisses the shore with rhythmic laps, I’m smitten.

I’m grateful for the vista at the amazing spot where the Lehigh River connects with the Delaware River in Easton, PA.  It is one of our go-to places.  We’ll throw a few fishing rods, chairs and a book in the car, stop and get a picnic and head out.  I rarely open the book.