Sometimes the greatest rest I find is when I'm hiking through the mountains. Sleep is an elusive commodity with the constant interruptions and the hurdles of life require a tension, preparedness, stamina and propulsion that rest alone can fuel. When I am given the freedom to wander in the wilds, even if my body should be fatigued by the endeavor, my mind finds recovery and clarity. My hope is always renewed and I am able to see the rays of sunshine through the fog.
I was tramping through an aspen forest deep in heart of the Peaks and the smell took me back to days gone by, to memories of my girlhood, a time when the daunting worries of life were but a shadow of what was to come. I believe we are each placed in a time, in a place in history, in a position on the planet where the painting of our lives has the richest color, where the Painter creates beauty in the messy blend of dark and light hues. Each color is a key component in the whole of what we become. Those bygone girlhood days of Aspen wandering are a rich and colorful part of the painting that is my life.
We have been working incredibly hard these past several weeks, preparing for the wedding we're hosting in June, keeping up with the everyday demands of life, and preparing to get my parents moved to lower elevation. We create a checklist of to-dos for each week (which we've been fairly successfully completing) and then we try to leave some space for the activities/responsibilities/needs which spontaneously generate. In addition to wedding preparations, we have made substantial progress on our underground greenhouse, though we still have far to go. We have been cleaning up our larger pasture removing rocks and debris, we've painted the fort and the shed, painted the bathrooms in the house, prepared our garden beds for planting, hatched out a beloved duckling named "Cora", built a fountain, built chicken coops, and wrestled the wind.
I'm embracing the harum-scarum fashion of dust makeup foundation and wind-blown locks.
So, if we're not home, you probably won't find us. We're undoubtedly wandering.
