Give 'em an inch...

The old adage: Give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile. We all know it. And we know it's true.

I thought of that today as I slowly, yet nimbly, walked the muddy deer trails across the road. My little dog is learning quickly about staying with me, that this is a time of companionship between us, and not just time for him to sniff all things natural! I walk very slow and have done so for some years now. Anyone walking with me, even my husband who has a broken hip and one-inch lift on his left shoe, feels his journey is stilted if I'm along. But this way, I'm not overtaxing my surgical area and not falling down.

And I see more!

(One time, while managing a ranch up north, we had one of our thoroughbreds brought back from the track to "lay up." He'd broken part of his leg while training and had spent some time at the vet's in stalled isolation. Finally, he was ready to come home and as I led him down to the box stall, filled with fluffy, clean straw with a bucket of fresh water hanging from the ring in the wall, I thought of how much more interesting this would be to him rather than the high walls, no windows, of the "solitary" he'd had for months at the vet's.

I led the big, dark bay into the stall, turned him around to remove his halter and stroked his neck a bit, saying, "You still have to stay in a stall for a long, long time, but at least here, with the top half of the door pinned open, you can stick your head out and see more."

Ever after that, I called him "Seymour.")

Back to my little hike today. I found a sheltered place of big, lichen-covered boulders with one sitting dry in the sun, just the right height for a prayer rock. I sat down, invited Quincy to join me, and said some prayers. Thanking God for the wonderful woods so close to my home, the sound of the wind in the pines and the gurgle of the snow-melt creek down below, it hit me.

"And you wanted more? You have a home you love, a grand place to commune with nature and God, a husband who couldn't be more loving and supportive, your son is happy with a new-found love, and you wanted more?"

Reflecting upon the things I'd conjured up that would be the result from the now-cancelled fusion, the rewards and the wellness and the return to more ability to get out and about, I had to laugh at what God was probably thinking right now!

"Give 'em an inch...."

Life is good here at the Gorge. Very good.

We went to the hardware store this morning and ended up in a visit with the young woman working there. A long-time local, Kari drew us a map of how the locals get up into the public lands and the mountains right above us. We'd been wanting to find the way to drive up there for all last summer and were only told, "There is no way. It's all gated up." And we found that to be true when we ventured forth to find our own way. Now, we have a golden map leading to the treasure of mountainous delights.

Life is very good.