The Mountain

Seattle's gray fame is, except for the very short summer, well deserved. Most days I wake up to clouds and rain, and I walk home in full darkness at six o'clock after a day spent in the Health Sciences building. But every once in a while, the sun makes a comeback and the days or weeks of missing it make it so much sweeter when it finally arrives. The sweetest though, is days like today, when it's clear enough to see the mountain from my window.

This past summer my friend Caroline kept almost causing car accidents while looking for the mountain. I've become similarly obsessed... It's my own little superstition that days when I can see Mount Rainier from my window will be extra good. It's not that the mountain has become my lucky charm, but there's something about starting your day out by seeing something beautiful... I sit on the arm of the couch, with a bowl in one hand and spoon in the other, and just look at the mountain.

When I lived in Bangladesh, I would wake up, walk out of my room, and, through a crack in the curtains covering her doorframe, I would see my host mother starting out her day with the first of five daily prayers. I was always impressed by the sense of peace it must bring to start out your day by giving thanks so I started doing the same-- while my Auntie prayed in her room, I'd pray in mine. She'd bow down on a prayer mat, I'd kneel on a concrete floor and bow my head down... It's a habit that hasn't lasted unfortunately. These days I forget to start the mornings with something peaceful or beautiful. More often than not and my prayers go towards making the coffee pot boil faster. So it's nice when nature surprises me, and makes me stop, contemplate, and start the day right.

It was a good day today. Perfect even. I have yet to crack a book for my exam on Monday but I got to talk to my family, I got to walk by a beach, and I got to spend time with a friend so I'm feeling at peace...