I hope everyone had an outstanding Christmas. I know I sure did. The rituals not withstanding (gifts, food, more gifts, “It’s a Wonderful Life” twice, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” and of course “Christmas Story,” and oh dear — more food), I got to do a little reflecting on the year that is now almost past and the one to come here in just a few days.
A friend had thrown out an open invitation on Facebook to climb Pine Valley Mountain, and as it happened, I was the only one to bite.
Bear in mind, I have been nursing a grueling groin muscle pull from a trip to Mexico earlier this fall and have been, to say the least, a little lethargic. Being cooped up trying to let that heal was an exercise in insanity for sure. Anyone who has had an injury in that region can well attest that moving your pinky finger requires abdominal muscles. Suffice it to say I had some bad cabin fever, so when in weighing the option of a day in the snow with tools, snow shoes, crampons, and the like, surely I should have opted out. But I made the decision to cut short the ritual Christmas feasting by noon on that day and focus on the next day’s venture.
Advil, you are one of my closest friends.
To help get in the right frame of mind, I decided to get outside for a bit. My family recently came into possession of some things that belonged to my late friend Louis Johnson. A among them was a Bianchi road bike retrofitted for some off-road pedaling.
Perfect!
I had the roads to myself pretty much for the better part of the two-hour ride, which gave way two the first bit of the reflecting I was speaking of. I thought, “Geez, I love this place.”
You see, for as much as I opine about the misgivings around here, that is just my job. I see it as almost a responsibility to pull back the covers and shine a light in the dark corners. To be true, there are those who do it so much better than I do, and my hat is tipped. But here locally, those on the task are a little fewer and far between.
But I digress.
My point is to say I also see the integrity and beauty of this place and most often, it floors me.
On Saturday, Rob picked me up early, and we made our way to the trailhead. I’ll spare the lengthy montage of the day’s events save to tell you that more of that reflecting came about. There is a stillness in the mountains that is amplified by thick snow, and my partner for the day had more pep in his step than I, so I got to soak it in a little like I was out there alone.
I went back and forth between thinking about wrapping up an article on the hypocrisy of Phil Lyman’s joke of a sentence in light of what Tim DeChristopher served for his civil disobedience, something that my friend recently admonished me to try.
He said, “Perhaps the best way to vanquish the less than beautiful things in this world is to shed light on the beautiful.”
Easier said than done for this cheeky Celtic bastard, I’ll tell you, but the sentiment was not lost on me. And it came to me that perhaps for the first time in decades, I would make a resolution for the coming year.
Not a list of tasks but something to resolve myself to for the betterment of myself and those around me.
Mind blank. (It was fifteen degrees outside, and the wind starting howling, sheesh.)
Being an amateur wordsmith of sorts, I appreciate often and much the well-written and even more well-timed quote, and this is what came to mind:
“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life, you will have been all of these.” ― Lloyd Shearer
I could not have said it better myself if I tried.
See you out there.
