Hiking above Wengen, we find a memorial to the German composer, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. In his short life, before 1847, he visited Wengen Switzerland three times. Deeply invigorated by his surroundings, he wrote, "What a day today was for me! Perhaps the most beautiful day of the whole journey; a day that makes you richer for the rest of your life and never leaves you. A day as if it had been made for me to walk the Wengenalp."
I know so well what he is writing about~~the days of my life that have made me richer. After reading his quote in the train terminal square of Wengen, I hope and want to always have days that make me richer for the rest of my life!
Those kind of days are not as complex as I may have expected them to be. They seem more simple than a marriage or giving birth to a child. Marriage and childbirth are complicated and filled with a myriad of other and sometimes distracting emotions.
Mendelssohn discovered this kind of day while simply hiking the Wengen alps. He was surrounded by beauty or beauty he paid attention to. When I looked into the eye of a California gray whale in San Ignacio Baja Mexico, I felt my life had been changed. When I recently looked into the eyes of an orangutan, I felt true wealth. Her stare has stayed with me. And today's hike in the Grindelwald alps has made my life richer.
We could have decided not to go. It was lightly raining and the prediction was rain throughout the day. But we put on our rain jackets, put bread and cheese in our backpacks, and at the last minute added the last row of a chocolate bar. The clouds were low and ominous. Green is magnified on cloudy days. We found a lovely shortcut path through the hills and landed on the most beautiful path that looked like a secret entrance into the woods. Three waterfalls, two avalanches, salamanders, green moss boulders and bridges later, we came to a crossroad. We could keep going to the next village, turn left to the bottom of Grindelwald or return on this same beautiful path.
My rain jacket was wet, my pants were wet. We headed back to the shelter of a giant rock to break out lunch. I took off my jacket and changed into a warm, temporary, pullover. A reprieve of unsurpassed beauty. After a rest, we continued.
When we came out of the secret forest, the clouds had begun to retreat. and we could see the hiding tops of mountains.
"They say this is one of the most beautiful valleys in the entire world," Tony said.
Enough to make my life richer for the rest of my life.
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