Ten Seconds of Peace on Earth - 11 Years Later

Most moments of our time on this planet move from one moment to the next barely noticed. Moments that stand out in our memories often are ones we focus on because we have to, want to, or expect to. Some moments though, come by accidentally and without warning. They grab our attention as unrelated circumstances come together in just the right way to make that moment stand out over the other moments on either side of it. Right place, right time sort of thing. Or wrong place, wrong time. It can certainly go either way.

While finishing up a bike shop ride 11 plus years ago,I had such a moment. This moment lasted maybe 10 seconds. So I think it would be appropriate to use my 250 word format to describe it. (Originally posted 7/14/2010)

Ten Seconds of Peace on Earth

It was a hot ride. The humid air had turned my lungs into wet sponges. Finally we came out of the woods onto Marginal Way. This shade covered back lane of neat homes meant the bike shop was only a few minutes away and I could stop wheezing.

The ritual was always the same at the trail head. The riders who lived nearby would split off shouting “Good Ride”, or “Give me a call about Sunday”. The rest of us would begin the casual half mile spin back to the bike shop.

I saw her as we pedaled onto the last section of Marginal Way. Not an unusual thing to see a woman in the afternoon busily tending to the flowers and plants in her dooryard. But there she was, water can in hand, kneeling in the late day sun that had found its way through the high trees.

As we rode closer, she stood up and removed her big floppy hat. A curl of blonde hair dropped to her shoulder. She turned and smiled at us as we rode by. Sweat glistened on her forehead. She wiped her brow with her wrist and tucked the curl back behind her ear. Her gloved hand waved.

I smiled and waved back. I knew I had just experienced a moment of peace that rarely finds its way through all the flotsam and jetsam that clutters my life on a day to day basis. For one moment, maybe ten seconds, my world was perfect. 

Post Script

It’s February something, 2022 and I only last week finally found this post tucked into a dark corner of my blog. I thought of that moment often when I was shuffling through random memories trying to find good things to think about. I had looked for it off and on many times.

In my memory, that moment always calmed me and made me smile. And now after reading it again for the first time in over 11 years, It made me smile again. I need to hold onto to these snippets of unadulterated happiness in order to keep all the other shit going on in my life in perspective.

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Image is a painting by Robert Lewis Reid entitled "Tending the Garden"