Looking for a place to get away and read alone, together. Around the placid lake watching men and women spending the day fishing. In the cradle of mountains crowned with evergreens and aspens, the lake reflects the hopes and dreams of a new day. The fields of waist-high golden grasses cover up the marshy ground that wreaths the lake. It is the pinnacle of fall. The main attraction is the aspens that are burning up in golden fire. Though the leaves change every year in all the places I have lived there is magic whispering through these leaves that is unlike any other. We stop at a site where we can easily enter the golden wood. The final hurdle to adventure is a deceptively wide stream forded only by fallen limbs and smooth slippery stones.
After crossing with the grace of beached whale we finally start to wander in the trees surrounded by a carpet of leaves and pine needles. The light filters through the canopy in rays of dusty sun. Trails meander to the right and left in ever dividing paths to the future. He wanders ahead scouting out an ideal spot. Following currents of autumn breezes along water rutted deer paths. The wood is full of flittering birds and curious squirrels, but the outside world is never far away with jets full of strangers flying overhead. Closer at hand dogs barking and engines revving try to break the mystery, but some magics are stronger than modern life. The amber waves and purple majesty engulfs us and draws us deeper.
In the forest, we find structures of wood, shelters that could have been created yesterday or decades ago. This place feels like it is between time and between worlds. The sun on our skin and the chill in the air balance each other in harmony. This day feels like a gift from the Father, and nothing dissuades that belief. Finding a place to relax into, backs against trees sitting on the yellow floor. In our own worlds, but in a world together. With book in hand, I open myself to the scene around me, letting it read me and reading it in return. I feel at peace with the world around helping me find peace in my soul. I feel content in a way that is only possible when you know it cannot last. Knowing that if this were the norm the magic would fade and the peace would break. Then we read.
The words help me relax, but also challenge me to reflect. Not only to reflect on myself, but on humanity and my place in it. Understanding the brokenness I so often find in myself and realizing that it is the puzzle pieces that help me fit in the lives of those closest to me. It is also the jagged shards that I use to keep others at bay. Both often seen most clearly in relating to the people I love. In this, I find hope, knowing that if I am ever strong enough to lay down my weapons they may someday become the ties that bind me to others. Grasping again that it is in weakness that we can find closeness. And that walls build to keep us safe are really our undoing, separating us further and further from the brokenness that makes us whole.
We awaken from the Salinas Valley as the light shifts through the trees and the hour of departure nears. Getting up shaking a bit of the peace and magic from our bones we start to step back into our time and our world. Heading back we see the world from the opposite direction, leading us down new possibilities. Some tracts appearing familiar, but the trees want us to stay and confuse our path. He takes the lead and I follow where he goes. Trekking up and down the light continues to change. Reassuringly we finally hear rushing water. Fording the river this time involves dipping toes in the mountain stream. Still unsure of which way to go our walk extends. Eventually, we find our means of deliverance and return to the modern world. It was a perfect afternoon among the golden leaves.
