The Story Behind / A Dance With Fog
Series • November 12, 2021 • Written by Ashley Vemwell
There was no urgency here, only flow. Everything moved with a rhythm dictated by cause and effect. The moment required no embellishment, only quiet observation.
A distinct silence emanating from Puget Sound seemed to press gently against the edges of our thoughts, almost dissolving them. The bay lay undisturbed, its glassy surface a mirror to the shifting sky. The fog moved with effortless elegance, dancing its way across the water, neither hurried nor hesitant but perfectly at ease in its transience.
The air was cool and crisp, carrying the bite of winter’s breath yet somehow imbued with a particular warmth. Our only company was a family of ducks, their occasional chatter cutting through the quiet.
We sat along the cliff facing south toward a quirky little island with a single tree, wrapped in the composure of the natural world, and let the scene unfold. We drank deeply of this sweet energy from our cozy spot, allowing it to fill our senses. The singular tree, resolute and solitary, stood watch, anchoring the world around it—a creature in its own right, bearing witness to the change of time, season by season, day by day.
The fog continued its shifting and curling as it danced with the light. Occasionally, the sun would pierce through, gilding the mist in fleeting streaks of muted gold before quickly retreating once more. The ducks, undisturbed by our presence, moved across the water in their own dance, their gentle wakes spreading in measured symmetry and disappearing just as quickly.
There was no urgency here, only flow. Everything moved with a rhythm dictated by cause and effect. The moment required no embellishment, only quiet observation.
Eventually, the ducks swam in front of the little island and its tree, parallel to us, in equal succession to one another. The fog, the three busy ducks, and the island and its tree all fell into balance within our frame.
Their movements reminded us to stop, to breathe, and to align ourselves with the rhythm of the natural world. In such awareness, we find connection.
