It was my first morning at Esalen, the famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) Big Sur institute and educational resort. Last night I had spent so long in the impeccably crafted stone tubs half way down the cliff overlooking the ocean that my skin was still puckery.

Now I was sitting across the table from Dorothy, eating a bagel and drinking Rejuvalac. Her smile alone could have broken the heart of a Don Juan, let alone a 30s-something country boy not too long away from the small towns of Vermont.

On top of that, she was young - early 20's - and stunningly attractive with an innocent exuberance that was exciting and infectious.

"Have you finished?" she asked. "Come with me, I want to show you something."

Who am I to say no, or ask questions? "OK," I replied.

She took me by the hand and we walked out of the lodge into the morning coastal fog, which was just beginning to lift. Dorothy scanned the sky to the north.

"I hope we're not too late," she mused.

"Too late for what?”

She smiled mischievously. "You'll see. I can't tell you, you have to see it yourself." We ran into Steve, her husband, as we crossed the garden in full bloom with an orderly profusion of vegetables, flowers and various ornamentals. It felt funny to be holding his wife's hand, so I started to pull away. She shifted her hand to my arm and put her other arm around Steve.

"I'm taking him to see you-know-what, " she said, leaning up to give him a kiss. He looked at me and grinned. "You're a lucky man, Apollo." Looking down at Dorothy, he asked "Shall I come along?"

"The more the merrier, love. Please join us!"

We all walked, arm in arm, through the rest of the garden and started down the hill toward the "Big House."

"Ah," she said. "Perfect."

I looked around at the impeccably manicured lawn, the rustic fence that bounded the path and the vast ocean beyond. Yes, it was perfect. I felt so alive, accepted and ... boundless.

At the bottom of the path, the three of us turned aside near a huge old cypress tree.

She looked up at the tree for a very long moment. I looked at her and then turned my gaze reluctantly to the tree. OK, I like trees well enough, but I'm not a tree hugger if you know what I mean. But hey, I did very much like where I was and what I was feeling. She looked a bit puzzled for a moment, then turned to me, "Here is good. Let's lay down."

Hmm. Why not?  Dorothy sat down, looking a bit like Alice in Wonderland grown to exquisite womanhood, and spread her skirt around her. I sat down next to her and she took my hand again, then turned to Steve, took his hand and lay back, pulling us with her.

It was a bit cool, and the grass was still moist. Good thing, because I was starting to feel a bit flushed.

I looked up at the tree. I don't know that much about trees, but guess it must have been at least a few hundred years old. The leaves on the tree were profuse and exceptionally brilliant in their colors.

I didn't think that trees in California turned colors like they do in New England, but I guess maybe I was wrong.

Although there was something disturbingly, awesomely beautiful about these colors.  I couldn't understand it, but it was so overwhelming, I almost felt like crying. Soon I couldn't take any more. I closed my eyes.

But the colors were still there. They burned into my brain till I was feeling dizzy and somewhat disoriented. I got lost somewhere inside.

"Apollo!" "Now." Her hand was on my face. I opened my eyes to see her angelic smile and bright green eyes framed against the leaves of the tree.

I thought I must be hallucinating. The leaves framing her exquisite face were moving in  strange patterns I had never seen made by a breeze in the trees - And there was no breeze!

The leaves were falling. More leaves were falling. A LOT of leaves were falling! And some were falling UP!

The leaves were flying! The whole top of the tree was writhing and melting and suddenly half of the leaves lifted up off the tree and swerved toward the ocean!

My body started shaking. Tears were streaming from my eyes. I felt Dorothy pressed up against me, holding me, and it must have been Steve on the other side.

I was trying to talk, but couldn't seem to make any noise.  This was unreal. It couldn't be happening! It was too weird. It was heavenly. It was awesomely, terrifyingly beautiful!

One of the leaves drifted toward me from a far distance.

I watched it descend in ultra-slow motion, wavering on the invisible wind.

Somehow I knew it was coming to me. I waited with a sense of impending ecstasy.  Closer, back and forth, closer, a little bit to the left, to the right.

It landed on my nose. I didn't dare move. It was hard to focus on my nose, but something was moving on my nose. Something breathtakingly delightful, something otherworldly.

I gazed at this ... thing, this ... creature. It was alive. Its wings were moving gently up and down - I could feel them kiss my nose.

It was a butterfly, well, in fact it was a whole tree full of butterflies! Amazing, intoxicating, little angels from the sky! I laughed in delight and wonder as the startled Monarch rose gracefully into the air.

I laughed in relief. I cried with happiness too great to contain.

I grabbed Steve and Dorothy and we rolled over and over in the grass, giggling like schoolchildren.

I looked up into their grinning faces -

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. My God! What a wonderful gift!"