Emerging from a high mountain trail choked with aspen trees, I stared at a wooden post, weathered gray from years of punishment being staked out in the inhospitable environment. Rusty nails had one little wooden sign with an arrow whittled in it pointing right while another similar sign had an arrow pointing left. The faded acronyms on each were absolutely meaningless, so I went left.
Why left? No reason whatsoever. Rather than pointlessly debating with myself, I made a decision and acted on it. It was like guessing on a true or false question, I had a 50% chance of being correct. The odds would not have changed no matter how much time I wasted lamenting over the decision. Just like a flip of a coin, I had to accept whatever followed.
I proceeded left and enjoyed the solitude of the high mountain trail. The air was cool and lightly scented with earthy odors while the sun, through a thin atmosphere, sizzled a burn on the back of my neck. Sunblock? Foolishly, it was left at the door in the house...a move of pure genius.
Shoes began to make suction cup sounds as the trail softened into damp soil that soon turned into sticky goop which steadily became soupy and marshlike.
Obviously, I lost the coin flip in my selection of which trail to follow.
Willow type branches reached across the trail lashing at my skin as I tried to part them for passage. A jungle machete to hack a path through the foliage? Yup, giggling with the sunscreen while hanging out at the house...
Suddenly, while breaking through the vegetative wall, I stood in a little clearing where my eyes opened wide to absorb what was before me.
Thank you Mother Nature, I didn't lose the coin flip after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment