The best thing about nature is that it reveals things to you when you’re least expecting it. Today I woke up to fog that clouded my vision. Making it quite impossible to see even twenty feet in front of me, let alone the mile I would need to see on my planned hike. Disappointment was the biggest feeling I had, but after waiting out the fog to clear a bit, I felt something completely different. As the fog was clearing I stopped looking at it as being a nuisance, as something that was blocking my sight, but instead looked at it as small clouds rolling around willfully and playfully. As the fog turned into low hanging clouds, I finally began to see the world around me clearer. I was taken away by the trees, void of leaves and full of ice. Ice that wrapped itself around each branch, encapsulating every small twig. The ice was a delicate and beautiful protective layer that transformed the tree. A tree that would not be typically so noticeable without the icy layer that covered its branches.

I began to see more icy trees as the fog lifted which forced me to crack a smile. I was suddenly eager to get off the road and take a picture of the icicles dangling from the branches. I was sad that these trees sat behind fog, clouded from my vision all night and I didn’t realize it. As soon as I started appreciating the ice filled trees in all of their glory, the ice began to melt. As the sun peered through the mountains, shining its radiant light and heating up the surfaces below, each icicle slowly beginning to fall. I didn’t think the trees could show me any more, until I stepped out of my car and heard the protective icy layer slowly peeling its way off the bark around me. The sun was blinding, reflecting off the ice melting all around me. And the sound of the ice falling from the trees, turning to cold water halfway through the air was comforting. It sounded like rain but it was a bright sunny day without any clouds in the sky. 

If I had given up on the beauty of my surroundings when I saw the fog, I never would have had the opportunity to be mesmerized by the ice. There is reward in having patience, there can be joy when we take the time to wait and let the fog clear. Shifting our perspective and listening to the sound of the ice melting is a new form of beauty we didn’t think we would get to experience in the first place.