“When You Come Out of the Storm, You Won’t Be the Same Person Who Walked In” – Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami, the brilliant author of such books as Norwegian Wood and 1Q84 writes in Kafka on the Shore “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.” I think he might be on to something!  Many of us face storms in our lives at various points, and doesn’t it seem like you come out the other side relieved it’s over yet grateful for the lessons learned?

I had intended to use Dorothy Parker’s famous quote “They sicken of the calm who know the storm” from Sunset Guns: Poems, as it actually reflected my road trip best yesterday. For those of you who follow my Saturday Alberta Road Trips through my Instagram, in-the-moment shots, you will know that my drive yesterday seemed to be one storm after another as I drove down the Cowboy Trail south to the Crowsnest Pass and west across to Pincher Creek and Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. The cloud formations, lightning strikes and constant roll of thunder WAS intoxicating as every road I turned down provided a stunningly powerful example of nature at its most striking and fierce. Violent skies DO make for some crazy photography…to see all of my storm shots taken with my “serious camera”, including the one above taken at The Bar U Ranch, please visit my Alberta Gallery here.

So why not choose the short yet powerful Dorothy Parker quote? Well, I must admit, I’m not sick of calm even though I’ve known my fair share of storms! In fact, yesterday I was just out looking for some early summer sun to kiss my pale face. After a tumultuous 2013, most weekends I just long for some gentle roads adorned with green pastures surrounded in peace and quiet. My work week provides the appropriate amount of excitement and passion to keep me on my toes but it is the solitude and serenity of the weekend that keeps this farm girl grounded. So I will leave you with one more Goodreads quote that is beautiful yet hits close to home:

“He turned to look just in time to see the rain start falling out as if the storm had finally decided to weep in shame for what it had done to them.” – James Dashner, The Scorch Trials