Where the ocean meets the sea. .

ecotone |ˈēkətōnˈekəˌtōn|

nounEcology

a region of transition between two biological communities. 

This is one of my favorite pieces of iPhone-ography, I took it form my flight from Atlanta to San Jose, the Capital of Costa Rica. 

Not only does it capture the stunning grandeur of these cumulous clouds, but it gives us a glimpse of what a physical ecotone looks like from a birds-eye perspective. 

As an arid deserts turns into an oasis along the banks of a winding river, and a city's limits are defined by a body of water, or when two tectonic plates merge and form an epic mountain range, an ecotone is born. 

These spaces of transition can be thought of as harsh lines of radical differentiation and as areas that are completely unique unto only themselves. 

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This summer I was fortunate to have been able to summit Kilimanjaro. This hike took our group eight days, and led us through five different climate zones,.

The first day of the trek is spent ascending through the rainforest, which consists of more vines, flowers, monkeys, and ancient trees than I've ever seen before in my life.

The entire mountain, aside from its arid peak, is full of plant species that are endemic to the region; in the first climate zones these unique species are flowers. As you continue up the mountain there are more endemic flower species, but these are considered "everlasting"flowers. The vegetation between the areas where these different flowers are found abundantly is a great example of a distinctive ecotone.

The margin between each distinctive zone is gradual, but simultaneously individual. As we passed through the rainforest, and moved into the heath and mooreland areas, the air became exponentially drier. But as we made the transition, it didn't feel dramatic. It wasn't until we passed through this ecotone and came out on the other side that the differences between the climate zones seemed as intense as they were.

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Ecotones may be thought of in the way that Merriam Webster's Dictionary defines them, or in the ways that they are exemplified in the physical world, but they may also be looked at in a more creative, emotional sense. 

We can also transform the physical percept of a what an ecotone is into a breakdown of the transitory moments in our lives. What I mean by this is that we can begin to view the chapters of our lives, or spaces between the activities in our daily routines as ecotones. 

We can become more sensitive to the moments that connect the important aspects of our lives, and use this as a tool to gain a broader perspective of the ground we've covered and the lessons we've learned.

Mindfulness of the present as many people call it, could also be called, an awareness of life's many ecotones, or something similar to that.

Brining our attention to the many metamorphoses of our lives; be them in the seasons changing, relationships developing, or simply the morning turning into the evening, can give us the power to recognize the peace and perfection in these variations.