The simple things

It was a lovely sunny day when Aahan went out to take a walk. He loved the outdoors, possibly as much as he loved life. It just was such a sensory place to be. Relaxing, whilst also stimulating all of the senses all at once. He couldn’t adore the sunrays on his back, the beautiful array of colours and the birdsong more than he already did. He was constantly in awe of the beauty and because of this his eyes were always wandering when he was outdoors, absorbing all that goodness. That was why, that one fateful day, he spotted in the long green grass, slightly hidden from sight, a small black book. It was hidden from anybody that was just walking past, not really paying attention, but for Aahan, it was obvious as day. He looked around to make sure that nobody had dropped it, and leant down to pick it up. He gingerly opened it, not knowing what to expect. Inside it, were some stunning drawings of this exact landscape with colours translated almost exactly as what he could see. He flipped through the book, and every picture was this identical backdrop, but with different lights and seasons. There were sunsets and sunrises of every colour, there were deep and ominous clouds, there were storm scenes, there were blustery autumnal days and beautiful spring flowers, there was snow and there were rainbows. It was breathtaking. He sat down in the grass and kept looking at these amazing miniature drawings to try and understand how somebody could have left something so special behind. It almost looked as though it had been placed gently, but surely, nobody would leave this fabulous artwork behind on purpose. His name meant the first ray of sunlight, so the sunrises had him especially mesmerised and he was taking his time admiring each and every one of them. As he was looking at one of the pictures with a sunrise, a piece of folded paper drifted out from the book. He almost didn’t see it because he was so taken by this particular image that had deep hues of orange and red, with stunning, almost fluorescent pops of pink. He picked the piece of paper up and with shaking hands went to unfold it. He didn’t really know why his hands were shaking, but he just felt as though he had stumbled across something massive. He opened the folded piece of paper, and it was an unmarked cheque for $20,000. He flipped through the book quickly in case the owners name was in there, so he could return this large sum of money, but all he saw was a beautiful flip book changing seasons. He checked the front cover, and there was nothing. Maybe, he would have to go to the bank to see if they could return it back to its owner. He checked the back cover, which was where he found a tiny bit of paper, sticky taped in. It said “To whoever found this, I wish to gift you the book and this sum of money because I believe that there is power in the outdoors. I wish more people were able to look past themselves and appreciate the beauty we have around us. Please, just pass it forward in any way you can, and we can slowly make the world a better place. Kind regards, Beni.” He looked around, thinking, surely this was a joke. This was his life philosophy and he couldn’t believe that somebody could do something like this, because he never had had the means to do something quite so generous. He silently wept into his hands. He didn’t know why he was weeping but he just felt a special connection to this person, whom had never met. He just knew, in that moment, with absolute certainty, that it was worth appreciating and revelling in the simpler things in life.