Revelations

During the drive up to Napa yesterday, Sherry and I saw something incredible. We had been on the 5 for several hours, zooming down the California-drought yellow bush-lined freeway, and had just gotten onto the 55-mph limit CA-12 West highway. While I was disappointed by the considerably decreased speed limit and the intermittently one-lane road, I was also extremely fascinated by the scenery. Here I was, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the glorious way the mid-afternoon winter sun shone on the body of water to my left, when all of a sudden I glanced over at Sherry to make commentary--what we both saw next was something I'll remember for a long time coming.

Ahead, a little to the right, a huge swarm of small black birds--and I mean SWARM--was flying all together, and suddenly, flocks began to come out of that swarm. One after another, these flocks pirouetted out of the group in S-shapes, like a hurdle of ballet dancers breaking into their choreographed formation. Each flock exited neatly, and then created their V-shaped flying formation gracefully. While most flocked eastward, others seemed to go slightly more northerly. When I thought this was over, still more flocks appeared to my left and one or two more emerged from the remaining of the original swarm. That quarter-mile stretch of the drive was a miracle--physically in that I had never seen flocks emerge from swarms like that, and metaphorically in that I had never seen anything quite literally just fall into place so gracefully and peacefully. Simultaneously, I wondered why we as humans, with such great intellectual capability, are seemingly unable to do what these birds had just done--together come up with a solution, and together fall into place to migrate to a suitable situation for everybody; and I was hopeful that everything for this trip was going to simply fall into place. Simultaneously, my heart was racing because of this miracle, and my heart was calm because of what it immediately meant to me. 

I feel that these words do no justice to the complete awe that I felt, to the incredible wonder I witnessed. Try as I might to utilize figurative language and vivid imagery, I'm actually having a difficult time conveying the scene. It's times like these that I wish I were a skilled painter, so I could physically illustrate--no pun intended--exactly what I envision in order to share something so profoundly beautiful with you. Admittedly, even with an illustrious painting, something will be amiss. And that something is the exact feeling that is evoked at the exact moment of the experience. While this feeling can be described, described around, or described about, I don't think it can be replicated or re-experienced.

And that statement certainly isn't meant to be a downer. It's a reminder to keep our eyes peeled for the amazing things that can happen at any given moment. We so often interpret from those sad commercials or horrific news stories the very negative connotations of "Anything could happen." This takes up so much of our mental capacity that we forget there's a different perspective to that, too. Something like this bird experience, or something entirely different but similarly wondrous, can happen while Sherry and I drive to Santa Rosa later today, and we could very well miss it if we're on our phones. Or we could very well witness another revelating occurrence which can be fully experienced only in that moment.

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of yesterday, after arriving in Napa.
 Artesa Vineyards & Winery, our first stop. We were too late for the last tasting, but they gave us a complimentary "splash of wine" since we made the trip. All smiles after a smooth, safe, and beautiful drive.

 The beautiful "fountain" outside of Artesa, just after sunset. I conjecture that this is close to what heaven looks like.

St. Clair Brown Winery, highly rated on Yelp as an urban winery. Very small and cozy, great Sauvignon Blanc.

I also want to note how wonderful yesterday was. Even though we left home an hour later than planned, the drive was much more beautiful and much faster than we anticipated. With the sunroof open and our favorite '90s pop songs jamming on the car's CD player, we had a fantastic time together, and I'm so thankful that Sherry is back and that we and our relationship have grown to enable us to not just tolerate each other, but to enjoy each other's company, for an entire day. Love you, sis.

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