The morning’s customary trek is later than usual and it’s already warm; I get by with light-weight fleece rather than my usual wool and down. I’m with my sometimes-trekking buddy, conversing down the gravel road that leads us onto the trail. Straightaway, the quintessential Colorado blue sky opens up and I begin to feel relief – a heavy burden that I was unaware of resolves.
I’m enjoying trekking with someone for a change, but that doesn’t last long. Once on the trail, my buddy informs me that the ground is no longer frozen. He does have a point, the trail is muddy here and there. I’m willing to overlook the mud and keep up the pace, but my trekking buddy voices opposition. With an apparent aversion to the mud, he is not willing to be a muddy buddy today. I refuse to let a little mud stop me from enjoying my morning trek! We say goodbye and I go it alone. Even solo, it’s still wonderful – so hungry for blue sky!
Ruminating about the mud that doesn’t bother me, my mind drifts to what was bothering me earlier. Uh, that would be paperwork, filing taxes, record-keeping, …STRESS! RED TAPE! HEADACHE! I think about how I have avoided jobs and situations in the past just to sidestep red tape – like it’s the plague. I contemplate how I don’t mind mud and how my sometimes-trekking buddy doesn’t mind red tape. I fantasize that he’ll do my paperwork for me, while I slosh around in the mud!
Meanwhile, heading west and rising up the hill, I see mountain bluebirds – you know, those birds that have that undefinable blue color that blows your mind? I try to capture that color on my iPhone, but the birds are too flighty and far away. Even if I could reproduce that mind-blowing blue, it would not convey what I sense and feel, right now. The air is fresh, snowy patches dot the landscape, the sun beams brilliantly on the red rock pillars of the Monument, and I’m in a daze bonding with all of the blue.
Just these few moments out here jettison me into a bigger picture, the red tape small and distant. Headache departing, heart softening, I become indebted to this scene – the Colorado blue sky, the undefinable blue on the birds, the hardy red rock, the snowy patches, and yes, even the mud!
