Fog and Spiders

A few years ago, when I was in college and living with my grandparents, I remember going outside to shovel the snow off the sidewalk. It was after dark and it had been snowing most of the day. There was probably only about 2-3 inches on the sidewalk but we wanted to get it shoveled before it froze and we couldn’t do anything with it. There weren’t any cars on the road and the moon had just come out from behind a cloud. The fresh powder sparkled in the moonlight.

It was silent.

No birds were making noises. No animals were out. No cars were moving around. No people were outside. There was no noise coming from anywhere. I just stood there for a minute and took in the beautiful silence. The different shades of white and blue. The glittery snow. The silence.

But then we had to shovel. And then my car got stuck in it the next morning (thanks to the snowplow and the freezing overnight temp). That was not beautiful.

Fog is as silent and as beautiful and doesn’t trap me in my driveway. Birds stay home when it’s foggy. Crickets don’t even make noise. There’s a very peaceful silence that comes with the fog that I can’t explain. It brings out the fragrance from nearby eucalyptus trees too. Walking outside into the calm quiet that smells of eucalyptus is relaxing and so peaceful.

I will admit that the fog has its own set of dangers. Sometimes it’s thick enough that you can’t see the house next door. The thicker it is, the more peaceful it becomes; and, unfortunately, the more dangerous it becomes.

Fog hides its dangers. If you’re driving too fast down the freeway, you could come up on a car completely stopped in your lane and not see it until it’s too late. It also makes everything really wet, which can also be dangerous if you’re driving in it (especially if it hasn’t rained in a while and there’s a lot of oil on the road).

How do we enjoy something so beautiful while remembering the potential disasters it could bring? And how do we stay mindful of the dangers without allowing it to scare us too much?

I don’t know the right answer for that, at least not for everyone. For me, I’m trying to find something beautiful in everything that scares me. Fog – not scary. Anymore. It used to scare me, but then one day I realized how peaceful it can be.

If anyone has something I could love about spiders, let me know. And “they eat other bugs” doesn’t work. Tried it.