May 11, 2013

• Another Day

    Today is gray and damp. I am feeling the dampness, particularly on the left side of my body, the places were pain paths are well worn. My left side is like the Long Trail with peaks and valleys. I've hiked portions of the Long Trail when I was healthier and remember the hikes fondly. Long stretches of wooded glens with ferns and the green yellow light filtered by the summer foliage.  Then the climbs on narrow trails, mostly in sun, to the ridges of granite freckled with lichen. I remember the overnights in shelters, just my hiking partner and me. In one cabin we heard a very loud scratching and could not locate the source. It was dusk and we were stopped for the overnight at  Skylight Pond. We looked outside and all around but could not find the what we imagined to be a very large beast scrabbling at the wood. We returned into the rough hewn pine of the cabin. The sound continued. Patient listening brought our attention to a blue plastic pail. Inside the pail was a field mouse, scrabbling, scrabbling, trying to climb the sides of the pail to escape. There were little bits of husk from seeds in the pail and the story revealed itself. How we laughed at ourselves to see the thing we feared was a scared wee bit of mouse, trying to save his life. We took the pail out into the woods and gently laid it on it's side. Mousy scampered away. 

    Later that night, as I laid on a platform of ply wood and pine, snuggled into my sleeping bag, I reflected that fear of the unknown always seems disproportionately bigger than the thing revealed. I slept well that night in the woods. The next morning we arose and continued on our journey.

  Blessings abound

  • 10:02 am
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