My Response to the Reader Vicky

Writer’s prompt submitted by Vicky:  write about your traveling experience and beautiful views or something that made you smile.

This is a tough one, because beauty is everywhere around us:  sometimes it is awe-inspiring and thrust directly in front of us, taking our breath away, and other times, it is hidden, but if we seek to find it, the beauty will find us.  Beauty is certainly physical and tangible, but also beauty is found in the spirit and the soul.

The picture above is a collage of words from many different languages, on the door of the Sagrada Familia, describing Jesus.

Here are a few brief examples of many I have been lucky to experience in my life:

1. Flying my Cessna airplane to Santa Catalina Island

I was a private pilot back then, doing advanced training in my specialty field in Torrance, California. I rented a Cessna 172 single engine plane and decided to fly from Torrance Airport directly to Santa Catalina Island, which is in island off the coast, about twenty-five miles from shore. I’ll never forget the beauty of flying alone, with all responsibility of landing the plane safely on the island, then bringing it back, yet on the way, experiencing the exhilaration of what I saw below, about three to four thousand feet down.  The bright sunshine reflected a sparkly shimmer on the vast blue waves below, and occasionally I saw a daring sail-boarder trying to navigate the twenty-five-mile ocean, filled with sharks.  Once I became close to the island, I admired the stark cliffs surrounding it and realized that the runway was just off the cliff and I had to make sure I shut off power as soon as I was over the cliff and the runway so I didn’t overshoot.  I didn’t, and it was a perfect landing and all the tension vanished and I smiled with satisfaction and accomplishment, and got out of my plane, ate a buffalo burger at the airport restaurant, stretched my legs, then flew back before the weather changed, and on my way back, I saw a pod of dolphins below, jumping in and out of the water —in unison, seemingly guiding me back to land and home.  When I was alone in my airplane, on multiple occasions, which I have described before, I always felt the hand of God with me. That is both physical and spiritual beauty

• Cathedral Notre Dame:  Paris

I wrote several chapters of my first novel in Paris, and Bordeaux and you will see some of that flavor on the written page previously on some of my early blog pieces. During my stay in Paris, I took the Metro to the Cathedral Notre Dame, and this visit rocked my soul to the core. My visit occurred before the fire and I was lucky to have experienced the original majesty of Notre Dame. It was guarded by armed guards around the entire perimeter, with automatic weapons, and I was thankful for that.  At first, I marveled at the Gargoyles protecting the Cathedral everywhere, and in multiple poses:  sometimes pensive, other times imposing. The ancient stone, blackened over the centuries produced within me a sense of being in a miniscule hour of time compared to the centuries of its august presence, having started construction in the 12^th century and many modifications as the centuries passed.  Oh yes, and then I entered the cathedral and the majesty of it all, the sense of history and all the kings, and priests, and dignitaries, filled me with awe.  I’m a pretty strong man, I think, but this is another example when I felt the presence of God, and I remember, as the tour was progressing, I broke away and had to sit down in a pew and slowly devour the immensity of what I was experiencing.  And yes, I think it was the best prayer to God I have ever offered.  I hope.

• La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona)

I am unable to describe the ineffable pulchritude of this architecture, so I won’t try, except I was in awe how any human with his builders and artisans could construct such ornate beauty, filled with massive columns that appear like trees with branches.  And I remember the massive worship sanctuary that the genius architect Gaudi started construction on in 1882, cannot be compared to anything I have seen, except maybe Notre Dame, in some ways, and yes once again, my soul told me to just stop and stare and take in the majesty of God and the men who worship him.  Then, I made a mistake of sitting down in the sanctuary chairs, didn’t see the rope off, and the guards came and told me to get up.  Its ok, it was worth it, it was a soulful prayer that only one heard.

•  The birth of my children.

I was the first to touch both of them and give them life, cutting the cord and also putting my hands gently on their heads and delivering them myself from their mother, under the watchful eye of the obstetrician. Each delivery was my greatest day and again, the beauty of bringing life to my flesh and blood was ineffable.

They are gone from me and I miss them.

© SRCarson Publications, 2025