Now this title could take you in a couple of different directions — lost adventures or the adventures of being lost. I’m going down the path of the latter.
When was the last time you got lost? What was your experience of that: were you frightened or panicked or did your inner ‘role with the punches’ lead you into a memorable adventure?
My husband and I were hiking near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in the fall. The aspen trees were getting their golden leaves on and the woods were glistening with color. Early one morning, just after sunup, the path we chose led to a small lake with a waterfall and we guessed, based on the distance, that it would only take us about 45 minutes – a short hike, but assured to be quite beautiful. We weren’t equipped for anything lengthy but had a backpack with a couple of bottles of water and enough room to throw in our jackets if we got warm and a hiking map of the area.
Looking at the posted map at the trailhead, and after noting our entrance onto the selected trail, we headed into the woods on our adventure. We walked through wooded areas that lead to open meadows and back into the woods again. We savored the mountainous beauty surrounding us, chatted about our adventure, and enjoyed the dewy sparkles accented by the rising sun.
We walked and walked, sure we were following the right path, but after 3 hours of romping in the hills and working up a thirst, we realized we were nowhere near any lake and there was a pronounced absence of any audible evidence of any nearby stream. Time to pull out the map!
Oh my! We missed our turn! Retracing our tired steps, sun high in the sky by now, with map in hand, I felt a little discouraged. Glad to have someone with me, but discouraged. As I watched the moist dirt path beneath my feet, I came upon a gift. A dampened, yellow, fallen aspen leaf on the earth’s surface with just the right mixture of dew and dust to form a smiley face. A little gift from nature encouraging me amidst my plight of being lost.
Eventually, we arrived at our selected awe-inspiring destination and the talisman discovered in my path encouraged me all the way back to the car where we could rest our tired feet and head back into civilization to find some nourishing vittles to quell the growling bellies.
The moral to this story – When you’ve lost your way, pause and look around. You just never know what adventure awaits, and you might just find a ‘sign’ to lead you toward your destination.
Let me say that again, “Can I be your Valentine?” That’s a little upside down from the normal “Will you be my Valentine?” The commercial Valentine’s Day is upon us and I’ve noticed how it all seems to be geared toward someone asking me to be their Valentine. What if we flipped it upside down and instead of asking someone else to be your special person, we offered to be someone’s person?
This holiday we have historically celebrated as romantic expressions between two people. Romantic love is certainly worth celebrating, and I’m all for doing that. But on this day of ‘love’ sharing, it occurs to me that love is love and is shareable regardless of its nature (romantic, playful, giving, helping, and so on). Rather than expecting someone to share their love with me, it seems equally rewarding to offer my love to others. The more love you give, the more you get (so ‘they’ say). Loving is the point, right?
Have you ever noticed how loving something or someone softens what is hard inside? When I share love, my worries fade into the background, my frustrations wither, my anger seems less important, and my critical self-talk turns to acceptance and encouragement. Seems to me we could do this love-sharing any day without a holiday requirement. But hey, if we want to call out a specific day in the year to be aware of it, why not? I’ll play!
Wherever you are in your life, whatever you’re doing, however you feel right this moment, take a moment and send loving thoughts to someone unsuspecting. That might be a road worker, that person getting on your nerves, the plumber who isn’t afraid of a nasty job, or the tried-and-true person who delivers your mail each day. In the meantime, I’ll ask again, can I be your Valentine? In the spirit of this holiday, I’m sending love your way and I’m feeling grateful for the gifts you bring to this world by being who you are.
