There are times at sunset when I step out on the deck and look across the trees and see San Francisco Bay, almost purple in color, the islands in the bay are almost black, and then the Bridge, more orange than golden and then the wondrous sky with the pinks, blues and rosy purples, and, finally, the setting sun a darkish red,…. I will discover anew that I am at one with the world and with my God for allowing me to witness this magnificent painting she has created. And yet no matter how glorious is the setting sun on San Francisco Bay, there is nothing more beautiful and awesome than the beauty of a infant child….truly a miracle.

I love to be in the garden just after the sun has gone down and the only light left is “fairy light” - it makes me feel both excited and calm at the same time - it’s absolutely magical.

I am completely captivated by the incredible beauty of certain artworks. The first time I saw one of Monet’s “Water Lilies” paintings I was enchanted, spell-bound and thrilled to my toes. The color is so incredible. Van Gogh’s painting have the same effect as well as Manet. Van Gogh’s “Iris” paintings look as though they could keep growing past the painting edge. The artists have created an entire world on their canvas, that is alive and vibrant with meaning.

The ocean - Whenever I’m on it or near it I just can’t get my mind around the fact that there’s a world down there that doesn’t belong to me or to humans. sure we can “visit”. But it belongs to the inhabitants that live there. When I watch shows about ocean life i’m just in awe. I think of the ocean inhabitants as aliens really. As well…. when I think about the rest of the universe and how big it is…. I then think “so what else lives out there?”. amazing mystery that will probably not be solved in my life time. It’s the one thing I’d like to see before I die though. The discovery of other intelligent life on another planet somewhere.

Awe and mystery? Every time I make a pilgrimage to Niagara Falls. The awesome power of the water at the Falls, plus the steady, never ending flow of water further up river. I’m a Cancer, a water sign, and nature’s varied water wonders will do it for me everytime! Rain, lakes, rivers, streams, oceans. Living near St. Petersburg Beach at sunset is just about the best place ever!

All the life I missed by burying myself in my work for years and years and years.

I would have to say the best awe for me was seeing my daughter after she was born. I had an emergency C section so it was about 2 hours after that she was finally brought to me…to have her open her eyes and look at me and I could just see that she knew who I was and she closed her and snuggled right against me…it was the best. I have a picture of that moment so I can treasure forever. My Fiance’ is from WV so we visit his famiy often and to see the beauty of a place that has not been touched by big buildings and subdivisions is an awe for me also. To ride along and see the beauty that GOD created, the Mountains, the trees…to see the deer playing in fields/yards. To see kids acutally outside playing & having fun…doing chores and Thankful for everything they have…To go to a fast food restaurant and get great service by someone who is so Thankful to have a job that they actually Like their job… I could go on and on…Thank you to all and your stories…That is an awe being able to share our experiences with one another.

A New Orleans Vodou manbo in her peristyle overcome by Erzulie, Spirit of Love, with her drummers pounding ancient rythyms in the background. It took my breath away - and made me less of a damned cynic.

I live in Colorado, in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, and go up to Rocky Mountain National Park several times a month. The towering peaks, snow-capped except for the short summer months; the elk herds grazing in alpine meadows filled with wildflowers; the raptors soaring on the wind currents; an occasional coyote, or two or three; bluebirds in the aspen trees…. The exquisite “wild”ness of it all leaves me in awe every time I visit.

The power of imagination and compassion can raise the hairs on my arm.

For myself, life is like being the Fool’s card. Always stepping off the edge with items that mean the most to myself, ready for a new day and the mystery of surprises. Having fun one day at a time, and just possibly taking to the next day the pleasures I have. Nature is my home for writing. Away from everything connected to my own physical life and just soaking in another space. I have a nature park within a mile of my house, virtually untouched by time. In a deep ravene in the park, you can not see the bottom but beautiful deer come up into the park. I have been honored to see them from maybe 20 feet, watching me as I watch them.

More than thirty years ago I found myself the only foreigner jammed onto an over-crowded bus spewing smoke as it clung to the side of a mountain in Colombia. I’d never been so certain I was going to die. As we lurched along, I looked for sympathy or terror on the faces around me and saw none. Campesino mothers fed their babies, old men chewed tobacco and spat it out the open windows, grandmothers slept and snored, teenage boys and girls flirted, chickens clucked in their baskets, a goat lay in the aisle, tethered to the arm of a farmer….no one seemed aware of our imminent, surely fatal plunge over the edge of the mountain. It was then I had an epiphany. I was travelling with people whose lives were just as precious and meaningful as mine, whose families waited for them at our destination, whose hard work gave them sustenance, whose God was my God…and suddenly I was at peace. We were so different and so similar that I understood my place in the universe was no larger and no smaller than theirs, and that my little space here was exactly what and where it should be, as was theirs. I was awed by this realization. I still am.