On Beauty

I spent this past weekend on a small island off the coast of northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior. It was, in a word, stunning. In two more: peaceful and serene. I'd not yet previously been to this particular great lake, but Michigan and Erie are marked off the list. I was elated to add this to the completed tasks on the list of things to see and do before I turn 30.

Wisconsin is beautiful. And big. And the sky, just like in nearby Minnesota is endless and this almost-unidentifiable shade of blue that we just don't get here in the city. The palette that mother nature has put together sometimes blows my mind. Its an explosion of colors onto a canvas untouched by man. A palette that seems unmatchable even with the help of a computer. There were moments that I felt like I had been picked up by my neck and plopped down into a fairytale land. That the place where I was couldn't be real; that places of such stunning beauty can't exist, not if I can't see them all the time without having to close my eyes.

One afternoon we took a lazy Sunday drive (on Saturday) through the woods and down dirt roads, the rocky shore of the lake as our only guide. We passed stretches of rocky beaches untouched and unreachable. Pine trees and birch trees together dotted the landscape and the sun peaked through offering tiny glimpses at the sky. We were under a canopy of green and blue and browns so rich that my eyes couldn't blink. And even though I know it does because I'm in the middle of it right now, at that moment I thought to myself that it is so hard to believe that a place like Manhattan can exist. That a place so opposite in comparison is the place I call home. But then I suppose, that's the beauty of it all, the push and the pull, the ying and the yang. Even more amazing, is that I am capable of finding beauty amongst this man-made concrete place so contrary in look and in feel. But today, as I continuously close my eyes to transport back to that blue-raspberry lollipop sky and crystal clear cold water, I'm having a much harder time than usual finding beauty in this place, this maze, this jungle.