Re-working an old post with new photos from this day in 2009, all to join in the One Word Blog Carnival at Peter Pollock's site. Couldn't find a widget to post here, but check out his site at http://peterpollock.com/2011/05/road-blog-carnival/ This week's word? ROAD
A funny thing happened on the way to see
my spiritual director this afternoon:
he didn't show up.
This is the second time he has forgotten I was coming,
but the first time he was not to be found on the premises anywhere.
And I come quite a long way - about 115 miles.
But you know...it was an absolutely gorgeous day,
warm and clear...my camera was in the back seat...
so I had an adventure.
I surprised myself by having absolutely
NO sense of frustration, of time wasted,
of expectations not met.
Maybe that was even the best part of the day -
I just had this upwelling sense of serendipitous surprise.
Hasn't been a whole lot of that in my life of late,
so all-in-all, this was a change in plans
I was grateful to experience.
Just as I was getting in my car to leave
the Benedictine monastery in San Luis Obispo
where Abbott David lives,
another member of their community drove up.
He was slightly apologetic for my 'trouble,' but I said to him
(and I really, truly did mean it)
that it was not a problem to me -
that I just figured God had something else in mind
for me to do today.
And what a lovely gift the day proved to be.
I turned left instead of my usual heading-home right
at the end of their long country road
and just went where the road went.
Wandered a bit through the Cal Poly campus,
found my way to Highway 1 and headed out to Morro Bay,
where I drove out to the rock and all along the waterfront embarcadero, stopping at several places to take a few photos.
Then I rounded the peninsula and drove out to Avila Beach,
with its two long piers out into the Pacific.
The sky was simply glorious.
The late afternoon winter light was so long and low,
there were hardly any people around
and I stopped at a favorite restaurant for a shrimp louie salad and fresh cornbread when I finished.
The sun had just set when I turned the bend
from SLO to Shell Beach,
creating a beautiful silhouette
against the bluffside trees and fences.
A few more pictures and I headed home,
tired but happy and grateful for a small piece of adventure.
