Anniversary in the Countryside

Gibralter Rock—We push against the palpable, humid 98° gravity as we ascend. Underfoot, grasses and wildflowers patiently shove apart the steep old road, twining toward the light as if parting the crowding asphalt in very slow motion.

Standing atop the hard dolomite capping the softer, more fragile sandstone bluff, we look below to the river and the bog, the cedars and the red oak—the entire life of the valley lies beneath our feet. We look up to the hawks lazily rising on the the warm invisible air of the flawless skies—skies that loft a ghostly moon and his bright sister sun.

Between sky and rock we strive and we rest, steering a middle course on the trail, in our lives and through our marriage—equally grateful for the blessings of our life, the small triumphs, the daily struggles, the patient perseverance, the splendor in the sky.