VIV Moments

Hometown

Malibu, CA

Joie de VIVre

The promise of fresh coffee as I wake up; watching my dog’s tail wiggle with delight as we leave for our daily 5:30 a.m. hike; a warm summer’s night on the deck with a glass of rare wine; the smell of the first drops of rain on hot cement; the adrenaline rush of cutting a long, hard turn down a steep hill on my skis with music in my ears; a heart-swelling glance amidst a rousing conversation.

VIV Moment

I had never been to Yosemite. Some 42 years had passed and somehow I had missed it. So, one day, my dog and I piled into the car and off we went. As we rolled into the park and saw the translucent pink and yellow leaves with black bark of Aspen trees betwixt the massively thick forest of redwoods, my heart filled with joy. Autumn. Bob Dylan on the stereo. The dog’s ears flapping out the window. My cell phone had long since gone dead. We entered a tunnel, a rather long one that finally showed the arch of a sunlit blue sky somewhere down the way.

As we spilled out of its end, I saw it. The sight stunned my senses and I had a weird reaction. Somehow this narrow and jutting valley some 4,000 feet below me prompted tears of awe. My dog and I stopped with the plethora of Japanese tourists and small families munching on sandwiches. I stared. He peed. We got back in the car and drove down into that place. We hit the bottom and looked up and again at the sheer granite wall that dwarfed the 10-story-high redwoods only a stone’s throw away. More tears.

I took a picture with my cell phone, and two days later I realized what a famous shot I’d taken. El Capitan. How many times had I seen that in a poster? But being there was so sublime.

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