It was one of those moments when the mystery and majesty of life were impossible to overlook. I had driven to the clifftop a few moments before sunset. The panorama out over the Atlantic Ocean was like a Turner paining, hazy colours blending one into the next, a beautiful sunset. As I gazed at the scene, I noticed the rare colour of some of the patches of sea. They were a particular shade of blue-green-silver-grey which I have only seen once before in my life.
Several years ago I was looking out to sea at St. Ives, in Cornwall, England, and there was this colour in the water. A blue-green-silver-grey that I had never seen before. Imagine living for four decades or more and then seeing a colour that had never been revealed before. I was astounded at the time, that such novelty was still on offer for a veteran like myself. Perhaps, though, we are being offered new experiences in every moment and it is only our lazy, habitual mind that likes to think that it has seen it all before.
Today it was clear to me that I had not seen a sunset quite like this one before. But that blue-green-silver-grey was familiar to me, from that one sighting, years ago.
The oddness of this evening did not stop with the blue-green-silver-grey water. I wandered along the beach, drawn by some impressive cliffs at the far end. There I could see that layers of sedimentary rock had been tilted to a near-vertical orientation. How unlikely is that, I thought to myself. It seemed outrageously improbable, even though I have seen such formations countless times before.
Looking at the cliffs, I noticed some steps leading steeply up next to one of the big slabs of rock. A sign at the bottom warned of danger from falling rocks and added words to the effect of, “only go up the steps if you want to see the dinosaur footprints.” Of course, that made it irresistible and up I went. Sure enough, with only a hint of imagination required, there were huge dinosaur footprints embedded in the near-vertical slab of rock.
It was all a bit too much for my poor rational mind, that likes so much to predict things. It simply gave up for a while and let me gaze out to sea in peace and wonder. Thank you life for the unexpected!
