You Have to Start Somewhere
A starting place for my pathway. I am looking out the kitchen window. My world is framed by the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, punctuated by the snowcapped Pike’s Peak. We are nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. The trees in the foreground, Russian Olive, Locust, Silver Maple, Aspen, Pine and Spruce create a rich forest of smells. Their leaves and needles are scattered across the lawns and piled up against the fences, and crushed on the sidewalks and driveways. The smell is heady, reminding me of playing football in the yard, and raking piles of leaves high, then stuffing them into the large bags, where I stomp on them to release their smell!
These trees are homes to brown and black squirrels, crows, chickadees, robins and magpies in other seasons. In the summer, the trees shade my house from the harshness of the summer sun. The robins stop at our house in late spring to raise their babies and eat the raisins my husband set on the planter for them each day. By August they are gone, replaced by the tiny humming bird warriors who dart in and out of the purple and pink morning glories that climb the trellis on the porch and sip from the feeder that my husband carefully prepares for them. And, the yellow daisies are everywhere in abundance. They look lovely and make my eyes water and bring about sneezing jags, but love looking at them sway in the breezes.
RECOGNIZE THE RICHNESS AROUND YOU
It is a rich valley where I live, surrounded by a 150 year old city park made up of 800 feet bluffs that hover above the neighborhood. Many neighbors have been here for more than 50 years, while old people move on to their reward, making way for new families with little children. I remember when we moved here and how we decided we would stay planted so that our girls would have a neighborhood and friends in their schools. It would be different for them. We were military kids; changes and moving, while sometimes stressful, were filled with new sights, sounds, short term friends, and adventures. For them we chose different adventures.
Looking at the ridges, I imagine the ghosts of Ute. Cheyenne and Arapaho braves watching us from their paint ponies, armed with rifles and bows, their long hair blowing in the wind. To the northwest is a horse stable once owned by a friend of Roy Rogers, who retired here to take care of his horses in the early 1950s. It is now a therapeutic riding center, serving veterans with PTSD, disabled children and adults who need to focus on something other than their problems. The golf course to the west, protects us from the sounds of the busy boulevard and the hungry developers who have gobbled up the once wide expanse of hilly watershed on the slopes of the bluffs to the north.
Yet, I would be remiss to leave out the sandy soil, a reminder of the oceans that once covered this ground, the giant boulders, left behind by glaciers long melted, and the blackened cave ceilings that bespeak of the ancient sojourners who found shelter above the creek that runs through the valley. The lakes and mountains have played roles in the activities that filled the weekends and holidays for my brothers and parents, as we honed our skills skiing, both in the water and on the snowy mountain sides.
The blue sky is endless, decorated with puffs of clouds, eagles and hawks search for their dinner. Their hunter killer focus reminds me that like these raptors, my father and husband, both warriors, searched out the enemies that would threaten our freedom.
ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR GRATITUDE
Each of these disparate elements has influenced my path, added to the shaping of my understanding of myself, my relation to the land, my family, and lifelong friends. I have lived my life like a story, with adventures, excitement, changes, hopes, fears, great joy, and great sadness, regrets, and lessons learned. I am thrilled to be a mentor and a teacher to those who are looking forward to their lives, children, work, and opportunities. While I am not a warrior in the physical sense, like my husband and father, I am a warrior spiritually, doing my best to be what Fools Crow called, “a hollow bone” for God. My experience is one of being there for others, to be a catalyst in helping them move their dreams to fruition. I find great satisfaction in that role.
Contact Us Today
Thank you for your interest. For questions or comments, please use the information below. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Phone
(719)-510-8902
Service Area
Entire Colorado Front Range, including Denver & Fort Collins
Business Hours
Monday-Friday: 8am-5pm
