From the prosaic to the extraordinary

It is not news that it has been a rough February. With wind chill, the temperatures have sunk into dangerous ranges. The snow has accumulated over the month making travel treacherous. On the way back and forth from work there have been many days when I have had to hunker down behind the wheel to negotiate and navigate ice and slush and way too confident and risk-taking drivers.

And then there was this morning. What a glorious sunrise! Somehow distorted by the clouds and ice in the air. Bright and inspiring especially in comparison to the gray and desolate feeling of Chicago’s winter landscape. At first I noticed a huge band of an almost green cloud bank hugging the horizon and thought how unusually beautiful it was. Then the sun broke through and made the unusually beautiful even more spectacular. The shape of the sun was warped by mysterious (to me) weather conditions making the spectacular close to surreal.

How blessed we are to have the experience of this miracle of light on a prosaic morning, on an ordinary Friday, in the dreariness of a Chicago winter.