Thresholds

Oh, what can I say?  I have been very deep in the process of moving, helping the children through the end of their school year, and finishing up the details of a wedding that is day after tomorrow.  Oh, and working three jobs.  I am ready for things to calm down!  After so many years of a very slow lifestyle, this has been a challenging nine months!

I was talking to an old friend yesterday about thresholds, and crossing them.  It seems to me, with my limited view, that we women have quite a number of them in our lives.  Womanhood, mothering, loss, new life, shifting seasons.  I have come to see that moving through those places almost always results in something better, newer versions of our older selves.  I had a moment of panic last week, knowing that things are about to change forever.

I had one of those before my first date with Bill, too.  It was as though I knew I was standing on the edge of something very big.  I took the children up to the Snail Place and we watched the sunset, me knowing it was the last time it would be just the four of us.  We stood there and really soaked it in, and the next day, I was on another mountaintop beside someone new, experiencing all kinds of new feelings.  It was a threshold, a crossroads, and I stepped into a new season of life that has brought us all such joy.

And so I'm getting ready to do all that again, stepping over another crack in a rock, and taking Bill's hand to do it.  I've moved East, the place of the future, and I'm walking new roads.

Always Waterfalls

Spurred on by a photo of a frozen waterfall, my accidental hobby of the summer became chasing them.  Nothing thrilled me more than to feel the spray, put my feet in the water, and enjoy the beauty.  Water was my primary form of therapy, and pairing it with hiking was the best combination.  Any chance I had, I planned a hike with a stream.  Looking back, I have always loved waterfalls.  Our area has plenty of them. 

On one magnificent day, we visited three!  The children still talk about it and ask to go back.  It's in my plans for this year.  The first was Tank Hollow Falls, which was very easy to access from the small town of Cleveland, Virginia.  There was practically no hike to it, which makes it a great spot to take folks who are not able to walk a long way.  We followed a longer trail up the hillside and through the woods before coming back down for our lunch.  The drive through the country was pleasant, too, even with all the times I got lost and drove around in circles. 

Next up was the Upper Falls of Little Stony.  I love this spot, and it had been twelve or so years since I'd last seen it.  It's down a forest service road outside of Coeburn, Virginia, and is a fairly easy walk.  This trail has several waterfalls, but we stuck with the top one.  The trail was marked as being washed out in several places, due to all the rain.  One waterfall was plenty!

The children and I spent a long time here, enjoying the stony pool, and watching some sisters swim in the water.  We walked behind the falls, which really thrilled them.  They asked to come back the next day as we were walking back to the trailhead.  I don't know when we had been so happy, before that day.

Lastly, we viewed Garrett Creek Falls from the car, but it was on private land.  It was huge, but I didn't get a good photo.  I'll have to drive by it again with my zoom lens!  Until next week, I wish you all well!