It’s been my birthday in March 2022 when Tino and I did an offroad tour that led us to the top of a Greek mountain on Peleponnese. That evening it had been storming like crazy and on the next day, the storm was still at full power.
I’m waking up and Rosinante is still swaying like a drunken sailor staggering home, stumbling to her knees now and then. Before I went to bed yesterday, I didn’t pop up Rosinante’s roof. I wouldn’t have enjoyed the additional noise and the worrying about the tent fabric torn apart like an old sail while the wind is hitting Rosinantes broadside. It’s six o’clock and the sun is about to rise. After checking my phone for no special reason, I decide to go out to watch the sunrise. I’m thinking about turning my phone off at night to make it easier for me not to check it just to check it. But I quickly push away that thought while having the feeling, that I’ll change that in some not-so-far-away future. After getting my winter clothes on, I’m opening Rosinante’s rear hatch. Instead of the familiar sound of the pneumatic springs pushing the hatch up, I’m just hearing the wind blowing. There are small patches of snow and I’m thinking if they have been there yesterday. Jumping out of the hatch feels a bit like exiting a spaceship. Even though I’m wearing my winter cap, the wind is screaming in my ears. After pulling on my hood, the noise got reduced to something like a mild screaming with the potential to rise to a roar. Feeling the cold on my face, I start the walk to a nearby place where I’ll have a better view. I’m passing by a big steel barrel filled with solid ice. Hitting it with a stone just blasts small pieces of the ice. I’m reaching the viewpoint and the wind hits me so hard into my face, that my hood gets jerked from my head. I put it back on and after adding the hood of my jacket, I’m tightening its straps. The view is fantastic: the sun just got up and her warm and orange light is illuminating different layers of mountains, clouds and the fog hanging between the mountains. The wind is roaring into my face, pushing tears out of my eyes and letting my cold nose run, but I can’t stop watching the scenery with wide-open eyes. While running over my face the once warm tears feel like they are freezing to ice. The wind gets even stronger and I’ve to lean myself into him to not get pushed back. It’s so beautiful, powerful and somehow weird, that I start laughing and whimpering at the same time.
Seen from the present, this morning feels like the start of some powerful but beautiful changes hitting me in the weeks after that morning.