Over a year ago I backpacked through Peru with a friend. One of our days we visited Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world. On our ride back to Arequipa, the city we were staying in, we stopped at the tallest peak at Colca Canyon. As we were walking around looking at a rocky dead plain, with a few patches of snow, I noticed a little old woman trying to reach over a rock wall and touch a patch of snow. I watched her for a moment as she struggled to lean over the wall, because of her old age and body, determined to touch the snow. I walked over to her and asked if she was trying to touch the snow and I soon realized she didn't speak English because she looked at my blankly and then said one word that I didn't recognize. So, just assuming she wanted to touch the snow, I decided to just lean over the rock wall and scoop up a hand full for her. As I went to hand it to her, her eyes were bright and she looked at me for reassurance that it would be ok to take it. I smiled and nodded and then I put it in her hand and she immediately said, “Oh!” and then giggled quietly and sweetly to herself but there was excitement in that giggle too. It was the sweetest thing watching someone experience snow for the first time in their life.
I ran across this moment in my travel journal the other day and it made me smile but it also made me think. Do I work that determinedly towards things I have never done? Do I strive for worthwhile things even if they are hard? Do I take time to find joy in the small things? Do I recognize the things to be grateful for and for the things I get to experience? Do I still take time to wonder and be imaginative?
I was grateful for that experience to help that woman reach her goal to touch snow but also grateful for what she taught me and made me reflect on.
