A Sunday Drive

When I was a kid I remembered loading into the car and just taking a drive.  I don't recall that we went any place special.  Being the oldest I always got a window seat, my sister in the middle and my brother the other window seat.  I think it wasn't always the best arrangement because my sister tended to have car sickness....

I remember trips into southern Ohio.  The land is hilly there, those hills look like mountains to me.  I loved looking into the wooded hillsides and wondering how people climbed those hills. I love doing that today, looking into those trees.  Sometimes I see the secrets of a past time.   I also wondered if a horse could climb those hillsides.  They seemed so steep  and sometimes tangled with undergrowth.  I envisioned myself on a horse, making my way over the mountain. 

I look back on this and wonder if I manifested this, years later I did ride my horses over mountains in Ohio.  If you aren't from Ohio, we don't really have mountains, we do have some pretty good hills!  Riding a horse on trails in Ohio's rolling hills was an act of trust and faith.  I spent a year or two being totally afraid of riding these kind of trails.  I learned to trust my horse and he and I shared a common faith that this was were we needed to go and this was the way to get there!  When we trusted ourselves and each other, we could do anything!

Life is much like riding up the mountain trail.  You can worry about how to get to the other side, if the trail will be rocky and slick, you can worry about many things that could happen on the trail.  In the end you have to trust and have faith that all will be well.  Our lives are often rocky and a slippery fall comes now and then.

You get muddy and scratched and you are often tired and sore at the end of the day.  The accomplishment that comes from climbing that "mountain" is so fulfilling.  You learn the lessons along the way to go around those muddy bogs, you know to duck so the branches won't whack you and you trust all will be well.  One of my favorite quotes I read on a church sign, it said, "Faith is like driving in the fog".  I love that!  I think of that when I am having some doubt or concern about something going on in my life.

I think I am meandering again, I really wanted to share that my dear friend and I took a little detour coming home yesterday.  We traveled some back country roads, I showed her a herd of Bison and from their field you could see trees down by the river that had the Great Blue Herons nests, empty now, but soon to be filled with activity.  You can't see these nests when the leaves come out on the trees.  It was a good day to check them out.  We also drove to a canoe launch at the Little Miami River and got out to enjoy the sunshine and hear the water moving down stream. 

My friend hears stories of when we'd haul the horses to Yellow Springs, unload and then ride back home, crossing the river in this exact spot.  The time I broke my rib when I didn't duck low enough in the saddle and got scraped off.  I rode my horse another six miles home before I could get of and moan in pain.  Another time a good friend got tossed off her horse in this river on a cold fall day and had to ride that same six miles, wet to the skin.  It was fun to remember those moments.

Horses taught me long ago to get back on and try again.  That is the way of life.........  spread your wings, wait for the draft and then fly, soar and live this moment.  This buzzard was waiting on that draft, so he could soar, soon he did and we headed home from our little Sunday drive.