The Free Radical

Sometimes life gives us lemons…

…and those prone to seeking balance, inherently love lemonade!

It was a weekend of extremes… but that definitely seems appropriate to these times. Events are tending to push us to the extremes of our human experience; certain things become clearer outside of our middle-way comfort zones. Even so, we are called upon to maintain a certain poise and equanimity through it all.

Right before our first real snowfall of the season the pendulum swung to the opposite extreme. A very warm south wind blew for a day, melting and clearing all of the ice which had formed in the previous weeks. The landscape was soggy and puddled.

Then, in the span of mere minutes, the wind suddenly came from the north and the temperature plummeted. An accumulation of about eight inches of snow fell in a couple of hours! And then quickly the cold really settled in.

Nevertheless, the extreme beauty is still undeniable. Our walk after this first real snowfall was like tunnelling through a snow cave… so much snow was still caught up in the trees. The muffling of the forest sounds had us exploring a giant labyrinthian igloo… until we re-emerged under the power line.

Our experience is pretty cutting edge now. Those handling change and the attendant challenges poorly are falling ever deeper into the ‘I’m-right-and-you’re-wrong’ paradigm, even over the most trivial of matters… while others are effortlessly rolling with the punches to see where this is all leading, confident of the outcome.

Yesterday, I put my truck into the ditch while travelling along a nicely polished icy highway. It could’ve been much worse. Sitka and I were forced to walk home in twenty below– but the point is that we walked away… and the truck’s not dead yet either.

There’s something positively beautiful lurking behind even these trivial mishaps. It can only be denied by an insistence upon our own petty agendas. I’m without a vehicle for a few days, but the boys at the shop have already fixed her and changed the oil (long overdue) and they’ve got some used winter tires they’d like to discuss with me when I get into town.

It’s all good! Tasty lemonade!