This morning my ride to Winona was pretty much perfect! Everything about the drive as ideal. The beauty of the bluffs was on full display courtesy of the sunrise casting a vibrant mix of oranges, pinks, and purples. The way the sun was peeking over the bluffs caused only the tops of the bluffs to light up which brought out even more of the contrast between exposed sandstone, forest, and valleys. The river was almost completely still and had the shimmer of liquid mercury.

As if all of that wasn’t quite enough there was even a point when a bald eagle was sitting in a tree, its head glowing an orange-ish pink as the rising sun hit it just right. I swear, it looked like the eagle was shining from an inner light. Talk about amazing!!!

To add to the visual beauty I somehow had the inspiration to fire up Lord Huron’s Meet Me In the Woods. The song added the perfect soundtrack to the views. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/t3i0Kz5ZV8o if you want to get the full experience the next time you’re driving up the Mississippi River.

I promised myself long ago that I would never ever take this mind blowing commute for granted. There are even a couple of points on the road I use as a trip wire to remind me to stop and take it all in. Almost twenty one years later and I’m still loving what must be one of the most spectacular commutes in the Midwest.

While I always pause to soak it in this morning was just a little different. This morning it was exactly where I was supposed to be at the exact moment I was there. Do you know what I mean? Everything was lined up in the specific way it was supposed to be, so much so that I could feel it in my bones. There was a profoundly deep sensation of peace and serenity in living in the present. There was a time when I very briefly considered stopping to snap a quick pic, but that wasn’t what the moment called for. It was one of those moments in which I could hear Sean Penn’s line in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:

If I like a moment, I mean me, personally… I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it. Right there… Right here.

https://youtu.be/_jxbLj_Px_M

It was a moment of cosmic perfection. Nothing else in life mattered, I was in that moment completely. I’m so grateful for The Big Dude Upstairs both putting me in that moment and for helping me realize it was where I was meant to be.

Thanks!!!