Life, Interrupted
Life, Interrupted

Life, Interrupted

So…. It has been a long time!  Nice to see you again!  I had decided to take August off from the blog in the summer to have some of those adventures we were talking about.  And did I!  We had some really great adventures.  And then there were adventures that weren’t so great, which kept me from visiting with you here.

Some things had to pause for a while.  And that’s okay.  We do what we need to do. Sometimes life needs to slow down, even for a little while.  Sometimes things come up and life gets busy and other things have to pause for a while.

When I sat down to write this the other day, I suddenly remembered that the July 31 blog post was all ready to go when something happened that kept me from posting it, so I thought I would have a look at it.  I wish I had looked at it sooner.  This was exactly what I needed to read that day.  I hope it will be for you as well.

Hope

We had an unseasonably beautiful fall and these snapdragons were still blooming on October 30 when we cleaned up our yard for the season so I cut them and brought them inside. Three days later we had a huge snowstorm, but these beauties were still brightening up our kitchen.

Hope.  We all need it.  All of us.  No matter where we live, what we believe, what we do for work… we all need hope. Sometimes it is hard to find.  Sometimes, not so hard.  Sometimes, when life is going well, it may be really easy to find.  But those are not the moments when we really need it.  We really need it when life is hard. Maybe it’s as simple as our favourite sports team winning. Maybe we hope that we get that new job, maybe in a drought we hope for rain.

But what gives us hope?  When the world is too much, I go outside.  I go for a walk, or if that’s not possible, I walk around my yard, look at my flowers, and take in the fresh air.  That doesn’t take very long, but getting outside in the sunshine is always good for me.  But what to do in the winter?  Or when it is just too hot to go outside? In the winter I may make a cup of hot chocolate, nice and foamy, with lots of marshmallows.  It makes me feel better.  There is a reason why they call it comfort food.

A couple of weeks ago, we went on a road trip.  We are trying to do a few of those this summer, just day trips to get out of the city for a bit, or explore something in the city.  This particular road trip was both of those things.  We went to a bird sanctuary in a different city.  It was really beautiful.  Our sister-in-law had recommended it to me.  We got there and had lunch outside, and then made our way into the sanctuary.

It was amazing – you could just forget that you were in the city.  Even when you looked far into the distance and saw cars it was easy to think that you were out in the woods – well, you are in the woods, but you know what I mean – and that was the distant highway leading to it.  We went walking out to the blind over the lake where you could watch the birds without them maybe realizing you were there.  There were lots of red winged blackbirds.  Guess why they are called that?  You’ve got it.  They are black birds with red (and yellow, oddly enough) on their wings.  Not exactly a creative name, but it is descriptive and gets the point across.  They are really beautiful birds, and there were lots of them.

We went up to the top of the blind and far away at the shore my husband suddenly saw a deer.  She was beautiful.  He tried to tell me there was a baby, but I didn’t believe him. He told me that unless we were seeing a deer with two heads, there was a baby, but I couldn’t see it.  I started taking pictures of the deer, then zoomed in on the picture and sure enough!  There was a baby!

Seeing a baby animal- in the wild or at the zoo – is always exciting to me.  You have to be there at just the right time, and well, baby animals – or at least most – are super cute.  I have seen baby tigers, lions, and cheetahs on nature shows and they were so cute that I kind of wanted one.  To paraphrase my husband, why are the most dangerous animals some of the cutest babies?

Anyway, I kept taking pictures and mom started to walk away while the fawn went exploring on its own a bit.  Not far, just enough that you could see it on its own.  Just beautiful.

When they headed on their way, so did we.  There was a hiking trail we wanted to check out.  We didn’t know exactly how challenging it would be – I think in my head it was a paved path – but it turned out to be a real trail in the woods.  We came upon stairs going up to a lookout, so we headed up.  After all, what else would you do when you come across stairs going up to a lookout? We got to the top, and well, looked out.  (Again, what else would you do?)  This was a different part of the lake.  Just as I said “It’s too bad there aren’t many birds out today”, we saw her down below.  A female moose, coming out of the woods.  And she was beautiful.  I don’t think I had ever seen a moose in the wild before.

We watched her for a few minutes as she grazed, and then a baby moose came wandering out.  A baby!  We were so excited.  And then… a second baby came wandering out of the woods!  Here we were, above a mama moose and her babies.  It was just spectacular.  We watched them for a long time.  One baby was bigger than the other, so I wondered if that one was a year old and the smaller one was born this year.  We watched them for such a long time.  I was just so excited!  Mom heard us and watched us a few times too, even though we were up high and couldn’t be a threat.  I looked away across the lake so she would feel comfortable again.

We watched until they went back into the woods.  It just felt like we had been part of something amazing.  Watching them wander out, watching the babies go off just a little ways away from Mom, coming back to nurse – which didn’t last long, Mom was clearly not in the mood – and then the littlest one snuggling with Mom.

We didn’t see that many birds at the bird sanctuary that day, but it was so special to be present for such beautiful moments.

This week we went to the zoo.  There is a baby gorilla at our zoo right now.  The last time I went I didn’t get to see her.  But this time we did!  She is absolutely adorable.  Still small enough to stay with her mom, and just as cute as a button.  The light was so bright, there were so many people, and she was hiding in the hay to stay cool so I wasn’t able to get a good picture, but I did get this one where you can just see her.  Just her tiny hand sticking up out of the hay.

If you look closely on the left side of Mom, her tiny hand is sticking up out of the hay, just by the tall grass in the front.

These moments give me hope.  When the world is too much, these kinds of moments are some of the things I try to think of to give me hope.  I try to pause for a while, shutting out the craziness, smile because these memories make me happy, and eventually I carry on, knowing that there is good in the world.

3 Comments

  1. Joanne

    Your piece on hope resonated with me. I have 3 tattoos symbolizing hope, my favorite being “Hope anchors the soul.” These past few days I found myself relying on this saying a few times a day. Thank you Heather, I needed this reminder.

    Joanne

  2. Barb

    Awesome and timely blog, Heather! Such a good question, what gives hope? For me, I guess it’s the belief that no matter how hard things are, “this too shall pass” and the sun will shine again. Faith, family, friends, coffee, wine, books and wise blog reminders help me to endure while I wait.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *