Sudden Surge of Memories @ 9:02 PM

I've done some of my clearest thinking inside of cars, with the windows rolled down while driving in the direction away from the city. At several instances during the six hour drive to Grand Canyon, I stuck my head outside the window to take in some of that aer vitale, while attempting to navigate the way with only the dashboard illumination and moon as the source of light. The black road ahead seemed so uncertain, but so did the skyline of mountains and the faint glow of several thousand stars. I thought about how beautiful the raw earth must have been before settlements, civilizations, and suffocating populations. Oh, what radiance have we given up for comfort?

We stopped by some small town, no more than a point in a map. Is this where inspiration comes from? Being so far removed from the city and the bubble you call home, at four o' clock in the morning, blanketed in the cold and crispy air, the promise of a sunrise just a horizon away?

I've felt it before during yet another dark morning drive, this time from Salt Lake to Yellowstone in Montana. I loved every sight of light from barns of towns with less than a hundred in population. Less than a hundred. Can you imagine the peace? The quiet? The unobstructed view of miles and miles away?

Listening to Coldplay brings back a sudden surge of memories.

Labels: contemplation