I run away from home almost every day. Well, I trot or walk away from home. I don’t run. I began a new work schedule a week ago, and now I log in for work at 1:00 pm instead of 6:00 p.m. It’s an adjustment, meaning I must walk in the morning, rain or shine.
My adventures sauntering up the neighborhood trail alongside the now raging Amazon Creek into the woods and up the Amazon Creek Headwaters trail keep me sane — not just physically, but also for my psyche. How can I NOT feel better breathing in that cool, clean air of giant evergreen Douglas firs and Sitka spruce trees, along with the damp earth, the ferns and plants, surrounded by beauty even in the wintertime when the leaves have fallen from the big leaf maple trees. This is the fifth winter I’ve traipsed through the woods on the trail. It never looks the same — changes daily, like the beaches and the ocean. You can see Spencer Butte Summit in the distance through the trees and Amazon Creek below. The recent rains have made our little creek into two rivers that merge together at a bridge near our house below.
You never know what it will be like on the trail. Lately, it’s been damp and almost always either raining or drizzling. I don’t mind that so much. I dress for it. My walking shoes are now super muddy, but that’s okay. Today, past my favorite Douglas Fir tree, I encountered a gigantic fallen tree blocking the path. It always makes me sad to see a beautiful tree such as this huge Sitka Spruce tree that looked healthy because of the green moss on the licorice ferns on the massive tree trunk. The roots sat on the trail’s center with damp mud all around.
I stood by the fallen tree and silently said, “I’m sorry, Tree, that you fell… but that tree will never die. Life will grow from the tree trunk, such as moss and various plants. None of the fallen trees in the woods fully dies. The rest of the trees rally to keep them alive in some way. It’s magical and happens because I see it when I saunter through the woods.
An ice storm caused a bunch of beautiful trees to fall last February. It is so sad that the trees nurture these fallen trees, and the circle of life always continues in the forest.
I continued to survey the fallen tree situation. Do I turn around and go back or keep going? If I want to keep going, then I must climb over the fallen tree and deal with the damp mudslide the tree caused when it toppled over—poor tree.
I have not felt like myself lately since my beautiful 19-year-old Guinness the Cat suddenly left us on December 17, 2024, a week before my family visited us for Christmas.
Just 10 days before the incident, a checkup with the Vet turned out so well. He is doing great for his age, the Vet told us. She suggested we put him on the kidney diet because he was showing some signs of kidney disease, but it was in the early stages. I figured he still had some life left in him. He could easily make it to 20 years old or even 21, no problem. He weighed almost 15 pounds and showed off his beautiful puffy tail. Two nights before the incident, Guinness the Cat kept jumping on the bed when I attempted to change the sheets and blanket and wash them. He was still Guinness the Cat, my best friend, always there, my muse, and the only family member left who was with me all those years in California with my kids, even before I had grandkids. Megan was barely 13 when I brought him home from a book signing with Floyd Salas. He was my good friend, writer, and mentor, and he wrote a book called “Love Bites – Poetry in Celebration of Dogs and Cats.” both a cat and a dog were up for adoption, and I adopted Guinness the Cat and brought him home. This was in 2005, long before I moved away from California again.
Who knew that his back legs would stop working on a Monday night, and he would cough as if he could not breathe. I brought him to the 24-hour Vet Clinic, wrapped in a blanket. They can save him, I thought. In the end, I had to make that horrible decision. I was alone with him…I stayed with him and held him the whole time, for hours, even before the inevitable…
Standing by the tree, I too a deep breath. I’m gonna climb over that tree and keep going!
And I did.