I can honestly say that I have never seen more stars in the sky in my entire life. The milky way has never looked so jaw-droppingly beautiful and I saw more shooting stars in that night than I have watching for them during scheduled meteor showers. I felt like I was looking at a sky that must have resembled what the ancient Greeks used to look at. Devlin just so happened to be reading Emerson's "Nature" and the opening paragraph aligned so well with what was happening it was almost freaky. I decided to include the passage he read even though I'm sure it will not have the same impact on you as it did at the moment.
"But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood".
I've always thought Emerson was overrated, but it turns out he's not. The next morning I woke up and got out of my tent to discover that we had slept in a field of little white flowers. Could it get any dreamier? I don't think so.
The next night we found some hot springs somewhere around the Twin Lakes and met a really awesome couple from Alaska. They were both musicians and had moved up there for one of those Teach For America programs. They lived in a little village of about 300 people and the woman told me that when a whale was caught and dragged into shore, all the women would help to butcher it and share the meat. That night we slept again in some random place, but there was more light pollution so it wasn't as epic. The man was a musician by the name of Joe Cocker and it turns out I had heard of him before.
We finally made it to Yosemite where we met up with Marc, Kevin, and Mike. The drive into Yosemite was ridiculous, we couldn't have chose a better time to go. The snow was still melting so we kept passing half frozen lakes and sparkling rocks. When we made it into the valley the waterfalls were so powerful from all the just melted snow. Yosemite honestly feels unreal, it's so beautiful it doesn't even seem tangible. That explains why there's so many goddamn tourists too, there was no escaping them.
While in Yosemite I jumped into 35 degree rivers everyday because it was really the only way of staying clean, haha. I used to have a crazy phobia of cold water, but I think I've conquered it and that makes me happy.
Also, while in Yosemite, I got a call from Moz Buddha Lounge to set up an interview for the day after I got back. I had the interview, got hired, and started training two days later. After finishing my four training days, I went to Maui with my family for the week of 4th of July. I got back and worked pretty much everyday for two weeks. This is my first week where I only have 3 days, and so I finally have time to write.
This summer has been so crazy busy it's almost irritating. I haven't really had time to accomplish any of my original summer goals =(. I have yet to finish a single book, I only know like 4 chords on the uke, and I haven't exercised once yet.
The good news is that Michael just moved to Ventura so I have my old room back and, more importantly, my old bed with my old comforter. Finally feels like home again. It's been awhile.
Home is a really intense concept for me. I used to think that home is wherever all your shit is. I kinda still think that.
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