When I Look Up

August 7, 2022

All photography by Angela Atkinson

I often take a walk in the afternoons in our neighborhood park. Yesterday, head down and lost in thought in whatever, I looked up and saw the most arresting scene: a young couple walking arms linked with an incredibly fragile elderly woman.

Ambling slowly through the rose garden, they would stop here and there, and remark in wonder about the glorious color of each flower.

I couldn’t help but lift my eyes to watch them, prying my thoughts out of their well-worn groove of thinking…to simply be in the present moment of watching this beautiful image of people marveling at nature.

As if that weren’t enough, the universe served me up THIS scene….this young man was threatened with eviction over practicing drums in his apartment. Undeterred, he mobilized and set up his drumset in the park to practice. He’d be damned if anything would stand between him and his craft.

A walk that started in my head, ended in my heart. How lucky was I to have looked up.