Hiking and Writing are two of my most favorite things…

Challenges – It is a challenge to take time and sit down and start to write, there are so many other things that need to be finished, to be put away, or to just be ignored. The garden is overgrown, the dog wants to go for a walk, my husband wonders when dinner would be ready – never enough time, always excuses not to write. But when I do sit down, the words take on a life of their own – sometimes they come more easily, other times they seem to hesitate before they allow themselves to be written down – that’s when the veil of my truth begins to lift.

Priorities – When the list of things that need completing grows ever longer, and making time for the things that are important for my soul become an item on the list rather than the priority, something’s got to give. That’s when I will put on my hiking boots and escape onto the trails of nearby forests and mountains, sometimes alone and sometimes with my best friend and husband. Words are not essential because the wind sings a song in the trees, accompanied by birds and coyotes in the distance. Leaves on the ground herald in the fall season and occasionally mist occludes the view. Lists are forgotten temporarily, and will only be revisited in a poem written later in the day.

This is me stepping outside my puny self and being courageous, opening myself to being read by others outside my family. Let the blogging begin with pounding heart and nervous fingers on the keyboard. Good luck to myself and to you, dear reader, we will never know what thoughts come through, but there will be thoughts, for sure, and words – guaranteed!