The Power of a Pause

I enjoy my walks to and from work, though my habit is to treat them as a commute, not a stroll.  Head out at a good pace, see how well I can time the traffic lights, and get to the destination in about 25 minutes.  One Friday afternoon in Spring a few years ago, I was walking home from work.  It was a pretty day - the sun was out, the sky the deepening blue of early evening.  The early flowering trees had been out for a few weeks, and were beginning to leaf out, pushing the pink and white petals off to fall to the ground.

As I walked toward a couple of large ornamental cherry trees, seeing the blanket of petals on the ground, I realized that the flowers would be gone by the next time I passed.  I stopped under the arcing branches, heavy with flowers and new leaves, and looked up through the thousands of blossoms backlit against the blue sky.  Deeply aware of my own presence, feeling my breath move in and out, I stood and soaked in the beauty for a while, then turned for the walk home with an indelible impression in my mind, and an appreciation for the power of a pause.

Today I walked under these trees again, stepping on some of the early petals that had already fallen.  Another year gone by, another cycle of flowers bursting forth for a few weeks after the dormancy of winter.  Another pause, to look up through the clusters of white flowers to the blue sky beyond.