I wasn’t going to post a Happy New Year’s greeting. After all, they’re plastered on every blog, website and social space on the internet. But then Susan Nunn, who used to manage Sunglow Ranch, sent her beautiful musings about the Chiricahuas in a holiday greeting email. It reminded me of why I travel—the power of place combined with the joy of connecting with others. Susan has graciously allowed me to share it with you. Happy New Year, baby boomer travelers!
The Chiricahuas in Winter
As the mildness of a southern Arizona winter moves through, our mountains slip into a soft slumber…where the heart gathers the warmth…leaving the bare branches trembling under the weight of a Mexican Jay.
I love these mountains, where the peaks reach so close to the heavens..and you can see Mexico and New Mexico and the galaxies…and your heart carries you beyond where the eye can see. When I reach down deep in need of solace – it is the Chiricahuas that nourish my soul. Their strength rises within me, their wisdom guides me, their heart holds me.
These mountains replenish my creative side when everyday life begins to take its toll. I run to them, parched. The trail leads me through the dry creek bed. I jump from stone to stone, those same stones that lifted me across the water this summer. The ones that were so wet and slippery…with the water cutting its new channel through the creek as it came rushing down the mountainside, flowing through my mind. Now the early morning mist and the beauty of a dawn awakening stir a more tender side of me, yet nourish me just the same.
A Whitetail buck stands off in the trees…he stands still…not a breath…his antlers weaving in among the bare branches. I know he’s there…I see him, but yet I wonder, is he there? I’ve learned from these mountains to respect the subtle changes through the year…and the changes within myself.
As time guides us through yet another gentle winter season – take a walk and explore – open your heart and acknowledge and accept the changes of life. May the new year bring peace to our world.
Susan Nunn writes about leaving the Chiricahuas at Stepping Back From the Border. She also advises restaurants on how to “go clean and green” at Food and Ambiance Restaurant Consulting.
