Late Bloomers

My favorite moments in life are those of serendipity. You know the ones--where you've carefully made plans & life surprises you with what seems like a miracle that you weren't expecting (& didn't even quite know you needed!). Such was my experience recently when I traveled to Canon City, Colorado with my family for a bike ride along the "Riverwalk", a groomed trail beside the Arkansas River. What's not to love? After an exceptionally rainy year, this warm day in mid-July was the first time in ages we'd seen the sun come out (talk about cabin fever!). We were all itching to be outdoors, and a bike ride along the swollen river seemed like the perfect day trip. Indeed, the nearby Centennial Park was filled with families picnicking, playing games & making ice cream, and a gentle mood of relief that summer had finally arrived seemed to linger over everyone like the sweet melody of an old favorite song. Yet to my surprise, after we biked a few miles beside the river, the trail abruptly ended at the railroad tracks with a large yellow barricade & a warning sign against trespassing. To my right, however, was a steep path ascending up a craggy mountain & another sign that read "Tunnel Trail." It appeared rocky & forebidding, but in the back of my mind I recalled hearing about this trail that had 3 tunnels blasted out of granite, which I thought my boys might be thrilled to see. So even though we were quite hot & pestered by flies near the river bank, something in me just HAD to go up that trail, despite the initial whining of my children...

What I discovered was the most gorgeous bike path I've ever seen. Soon, we were awestruck by the spectacular vista of the Arkansas River & surrounding wilderness that followed the Royal Gorge Railroad tracks, as well as delighted to pedal through old tunnels that had been dynamited a century ago for mining. Naturally, my children made wolf howls & choo-choo train sounds each time we entered a tunnel's depths, gleefully listening to their echoes. (I was secretly glad there were no bats. ; )

Now, bear in mind that I'm a middle-aged chick who's terrible at bike riding. Terrible at most sports, really--but of course, I fake it for my children so they'll grow up "adventurous" & enjoy the outdoors. Nevertheless, when the exceptional beauty of nature whispers to me, there's just something that takes over my spirit, despite my meager athletic gifts. I have to keep going, even though my lungs strain & muscles groan. So for the first time in my life, I found myself pedaling with such wonder & exhilaration that I surprised myself, eager to see the next bend, the next vista, each one a revelation for the eyes. For all intents & purposes, I became a pretty good biker! Not about to win any races, but thoroughly enjoying myself, and I marveled that I'd somehow managed to negotiate this sport rather late in life.

And that's when I saw them...

Cactus roses & blossoms of extraordinary color, rooted in the most prickly of desert plants.

Vivid Indian Paintbrush, whose scarlet petals covered several high meadows in a sea of red.

Wild roses displaying delicate, paper white blossoms, with lush green leaves regardless of the desert ecozone & Rocky Mountain altitude.

Geraniums that littered hillsides & every rocky crevice, waving their bright petals like flags.

Even the rare Coyote Melon below, found only in western, arid areas like the Mojave Desert, Baja & Joshua Tree, happen to grow in the wilderness near Canon City as well. They've been enjoyed as far back in evolution by such creatures as the Mastadon (scientists have discovered remnants of their DNA in animals' intestines). But their fruit is incredibly bitter, so Native Americans tribes simply roasted & ate the melon seeds. 

But the one that really took my breath away is the Indian Blanket Sunflower below (which I featured at the top of this post). This wildflower bursts with rich hues, yet always grows out of the worst dusty soil imaginable. 

Everywhere I looked on this trek were blossoms of staggering color & design, overwhelmingly lovely, and each one a late bloomer. You would have thought it was April for all of the flora that surrounded us, yet it was JULY! And how these sumptuous wildflowers persist in spite of wind, heat, altitude & soil that looks more like gravel boggles the mind. It's as though Nature was holding her own quiet celebration that day for those who persist, strive, and dare to thrive. If you've ever read any of my posts, then you know how excited I always get about wildflowers, but here in the high Southwestern desert, these exquisite blossoms whispered something unique:

Sometimes late bloomers can be the best of all.

These are the ones for whom life hasn't been easy. Every force of nature & trick of environment has conspired against them. Yet these factors have only caused their colors to become that much more rich. And naturally, I couldn't help taking a little solace for my own journey in the stories of endurance that these wildflowers tell. Like many of you, I was never the shiny young thing in high school or college--I'm the kind of person who took years to unlock her passions & find her way through the maze of life, coming into her own only after hard work & her fair share of setbacks. In a culture that worships glittering youth & overnight internet millionaires, people like me often feel lost in the electronic shuffle of social media & relentless, surround-sound boasts of success junkies.

Yet how could I not look upon this unsought moment of serendipity as surely a pinnacle of life? I'm healthy, my family's happy, and Nature was putting on a show for us that rivaled Fourth of July fireworks, if we were only willing to stop long enough to truly look. So as you continue on your own journey, I'd like to encourage you to pause for the quiet stories you see all around you of endurance & tenacity, along with the rich rewards of those that are the sometimes the slowest to bloom. The road is worth it...so worth it...no matter how long it takes. Though our paths are full of unpredictable twists & turns, and few have a smooth trail to the kind of fame or success we see peddled in media, these late bloomers can remind us that the unexpected does exist... 

And often, their hard-won beauty is the brightest miracle of all. 

"It's never too late to be what you might have been." 

~George Eliot 

(Pen name of nineteenth-century English novelist Mary Anne Evans,

one of the greatest writers of the Victoria era. Her first novel was published 

at age 40, and she had to use a male author name to be taken seriously.)

Allow the journey carry you to who you've always wanted to be...

Autumn Wonders

The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "Life starts over again when it gets crisp in the fall." And I couldn't agree more. There's just something magical about the cool air & first frosts that make you want to drive down a forgotten country lane to the nearest pumpkin patch & take time to see old friends along the way. Perhaps it's the vibrant colors that inspire us to feel more alive, or maybe it's that nippiness in the air that makes us want to huddle around a bonfire & catch up with our nearest & dearest. Whatever the spell is that Autumn so faithfully casts, one thing is certain: it's a season filled with wonder & enchantment.

Each year, I can't wait for the grove of aspens along my jogging trail to turn gold, their leaves shimmering like bright coins. And nothing spells bliss for me quite like the feeling of those delicate leaves falling all around me in a colorful confetti when the wind begins to rise. I often see the tracks in the dirt of many wild animals this time of year, such as mountain lions, deer, elk & turkey, because this is the season when the wildlife are on the move, getting in their last foraging before settling down for winter.

I also love to take wilderness hikes with my family, in awe of the checkerboard pattern of brilliant reds & oranges & yellows that lay over the mountains. This was a particularly wet year for us in Colorado, and the aspen trees have responded to the bounty with an explosion of color that's a feast for the eyes.
 

It's as though God took a paintbrush and swirled every autumnal hue possible on the hillsides in a beautiful menagerie that's enough to take your breath away.

The vistas this year are so striking that at one point during our weekend hike, my 8-year-old son paused and tugged at my shirt . "Mom," he said softly, "are we in Heaven?" I fell silent for a moment, simply allowing myself to feel the same wonderment he did. And after taking a deep breath, I replied, "Yes, I think we are."

I loved my son's smug satisfaction afterwards—as if he'd discovered Shangri La in the quiet beauty of nature & couldn't wait to show me. And to be honest, I think he did—and I've tucked that memory in my heart & given a quiet thanks to Autumn for enabling us to experience it.

If you're at all like me, you can't wait to start decorating with fall colors the minute the first day of Autumn comes & you love to collect pumpkins to carve into fun faces for Halloween. But I hope in the hustle & bustle of this lovely season that leads us up to (gasp) Thanksgiving, you'll take a moment to cherish all the quiet wonders that Autumn brings. And maybe, you'll discover that its magical silence fills your heart with a special kind of gold...

P.S. If you're looking for an enchanting novel that takes place during Autumn & Halloween,

check out my paranormal romance TWIXT, available now on Amazon & Kindle

 (Photo credit note: All images on my blog are either my own or were gleaned from pictures in the public domains of popular social networks like facebook or pinterest. If you own the copyright to any of these images & do NOT want them used publicly, please contact me & I will take them down immediately! : )

Unexpected Magic

Autumn always feels like a miracle to me—the crisp air, vibrant leaves, and that lovely stillness that pervades the earth, bringing a sense of contemplation & subtle understanding of life's rhythm & mysteries. It's as though, with the leaves fallen from the trees now, life becomes more fundamental, and we not only can see beyond the former foliage of tree canopies, we can also perceive the bare bones of our lives. Nature reveals much in her stark beauty. As we head towards Thanksgiving & our thoughts naturally become more meditative, I love to step out into Nature as often as I can to let the earth speak to me. Since moving to Colorado a few months ago, I've been taking my family on hikes nearly every weekend on backcountry trails in the Rocky Mountains that often lead to an elevation of 10-11,000 feet.

When I breathe the air at these heights & see the glorious views, I feel deeply blessed & also content. Nature & healthy loved ones are enough. The beauty of the outdoors is enough. The fragrance of the pines & soft chortle of wild turkeys or the call of the elk are enough. It seems like blasphemy in moments like this to be anything but grateful for life, color, love, and the majesty of nature.

And it's funny, but in times like this—when my mind is at peace and I don't waste a single thought on what I "want" in this world—that's when it seems like I experience the most magic. Some people call it serendipity: that unsought moment when a blessings arrives, light as a feather, that seems to synchronize perfectly with the contentment you've cultivated in your heart. For me, a delightful example of this phenomenon occurred recently when I took my family on a spur-of-the moment hike on an unmarked trail near my property. It turned out to be far steeper than we'd anticipated, with extremely rough terrain that luckily rewarded us with spectacular views. And as we neared the top, my son (who is no stranger to a belief in fairies), called out "Look mom—a kite!"

Indeed, at the top of a mountain (that was almost 10,000 feet) lay a dirty Star Wars kite under a boulder that looked like it had seen better days long ago. But my son insisted that "The fairies must have left it for us!", so my husband decided to unravel its string and give it a shot. It took a bit of time to straighten out its mangled cross sticks, but before long, we hoped we had it in working order...

The wind began to rise, and with my heart in my throat, I watched my boys' anticipation as my husband gave a yank on the kite string. If only you could see the joy in my boys' faces as that kite began to soar! They squealed & laughed & skipped & chased after it as the sun glinted off their foreheads & the breeze tousled their hair. Nothing on God's green earth could have made them happier in that moment than flying that beaten-up, discarded old kite.

And I thought to myself, "This is what magic really is." A swelling in the heart at an unexpected blessing. A child's glee. Abundant sunshine on a mountain meadow. A fragrant breeze. Laughter that you could almost swear was punctuated by the giggle of fairies. Or was that angels? And it didn't cost a thing. Simply a belief that in that moment, life is abundantly beautiful—more than enough—and a flimsy old plastic kite & some worn-out string are all it takes to thrill your soul & fill you up with a magical memory you'll never forget.

Oh, did I mention that we hadn't sold our old house yet & were paying two mortgages, my car needed fixing to the tune of 1,500 dollars, I'd pulled a tendon that made hiking precarious, and the trail back to my house was so steep that on parts of it we had to slide down on our butts?

None of those distractions could water down the magic of that particular moment—because I refused to let it. Because if I've learned anything about magic, it's this: Magic exists in the NOW. It's up to us to notice it & let if fill our hearts when it comes our way.

May this Autumn season give you many opportunities to stumble into magic. And may you have the wisdom & openness of heart to recognize those unexpected moments when they alight upon your world : )

(Photo credit note: All images on my blog are either my own or were gleaned from pictures in the public domains of facebook, pinterest, or other popular social networks. If you own the copyright to any of these images & do NOT want them used publicly, please contact me & I will take them down immediately! : )