Why is it that seeing a heron in a small pond on the side of an ugly New Jersey highway gives me such pleasure? One thing, I guess, is the contrast of this beautiful creature against the ugliness of its surroundings. Another factor is probably the fact that I first saw this heron (and I am pretty sure that it is the same one that comes back each year...would more than one heron consider this place so beautiful that it flies from g-d knows where each year to make it back here?) in this location after a trip to our condo in Florida. Now, I expect to see herons and egrets (love those egrets) and penguins in Florida, but I do not expect to see them in New Jersey, let alone right before the entrance to the Garden State Parkway. So each morning before I get onto the parkway, I am craining (no pun intended) my neck to see this thing of beauty, and my heart leaps (yes, really) when it is there, and I feel sad when it's not.
I can hear a few of my more hardened readers shout, "GET A LIFE" in unison, but personally, I am glad that I can appreciate the exquisite moments of beauty that I never expected. I think that I'll coin the term 'beauty shock' for this phenomenon., and I look forward to more of them.