In my grandparents’ time, it was believed that spirits existed everywhere… in trees, rivers, insects, wells, anything… I like the idea that we should all treasure everything because spirits might exist there, and we should treasure everything because there is a kind of life to everything. — Hayao Miyazaki.
scenery in SPIRITED AWAY / 千と千尋の神隠し
2001 | dir. Hayao Miyazaki / 宮崎 駿
Wolf Erlbruch (German, b. 1948, Wuppertal, Germany) - Illustrations from Duck, Death and the Tulip (German title: Ente, Tod und Tulpe), 2007 Mixed Media
When college ended a couple months ago, I ran away backpacking with a few friends clutching on to the withdrawing threads of the careless freedom that I had settled into in college. So I got on a bus and ended up at the entrance of this little village snuggled in a valley called Tosh.
We arrived near sunset, with no place to stay, dark, growling clouds looming overhead, and a long trek ahead of us. We walked up the stony path, meandering through rows of wooden houses where strong women with wrinkled skin sat and chatted, occasionally yelling at kids running around to be careful. The scent of warm coffee and unknown delicacies wafted from cosy cafes enticingly.
The sun had disappeared and its faded glow illuminated the dusk as we strayed into terraced fields, eager to get settled before dark. The clouds had now begun to precipitate into tiny droplets, chilling our skin and dampening our sparse clothing, now that the sun had withdrawn its warmth. A dull ache was starting in my legs, and the thought of a hot cuppa was the only thing that kept me from stopping.
That's when I turned around to see how far we'd come, and forgot everything when my eyes fell on this - brushstrokes from a palette of sunset caressing the dusk sky as if a final wave goodbye, the amber glint in the snow as if a promise of the next morning, the purple hue of the clouds as the night prepares to envelope the world in its rich folds, and the mountains standing ever so majestic, unfazed, in the middle of it all.
And in that moment, I felt zero and infinite - everything else ceased to matter - and I knew that no matter what happened in life, this moment would be forever.
I opened my eyes to the silhouette of a mountain, having closed my eyes to the city. There was a chill despite the layers I was covered with, but I was too excited to look away from the window. I had been waiting for this a long time. I watched the roads wind about, my eyes never blinking, I couldn’t fathom how the huge bus could cut through the meandering paths. I watched the people go about their daily lives, the bus delivering supplies promised somewhere, lorries being unloaded of vegetables, children beginning their walk school. I did not know when my destination would arrive, I was just happy to be there.
The morning sun rose, and I this is how the Bir sky welcomed me. The sun so bright, yet I could not look away.
Uncertain, unaware of what the next few days would bring, it was the beginning of a memory.