Granted, if those 4.6 billion years of history were condensed into a three hour movie, blink, and you might miss our one-second cameo appearance as a species right before the credits
started rolling.
I was suddenly cognizant, witnessing the seemingly precarious juxtaposition of man and ice mountain, just how fragile our coexistence, just how astounding this planet we call home, just how precious the life this planet begets.
It felt good, lost in the middle of Iceland and the twenty-first century, to hear time gently whisper of my insignificance, even as time let me know that in this big, wide world there is and always will be, for eternity, only one of me. I felt truly and uniquely connected to life and to the universe.
I felt whole in that moment, and very humbled. Tethered to a lifetime of experience that jades the familiar and dulls the senses, I hadn't realized I'd hungered for a reason to see the world, and me, with new eyes.
What a blessing to know once more, we are both filled with more beauty and charm and wonder than sight or soul could ever imagine.