“I am running”

Out the door with a frantic leap off the front step, across the lawn, and down the walk. An explosion of jubilation, energy, and motion.

Our walk together began with grandfather watching granddaughter from a distance.

Would you like to know what an Inukshuk is Madi?

                “No Grandpa, I know what a nook shook is” The interrupted dash resumes. 

– No lessons today grandpa, I am running! 

Hair flying, pink jacket flapping in the breeze of a warm Chinook wind. I still hear her laugh as I see her image in the empty curving walk ahead, retracing our adventures from the previous day.

Down the hill, free to determine her own speed and destiny.

Joy.

At last recovery unites the walkers, and the journey renews. Beyond the pavement the mid-afternoon sun creates a haze with the dust from foothills, beckoning in the distance.  

“Tell me, what is different between one side of this street and the other?”  

At last a pause. To figure out the puzzle from grandpa, and the answer draws her to the sidewalk and another sprint..

Suddenly, running back to grandpa! Halloween decorations are a sudden surprise, to share. And now back to the trail, and our adventure. 

The path leads away from the busy streets and I am now on a journey across the years, to a seven year old boy running out the door and into the yard, toward the trees. The city fades, and I reflect how easy it was the pure joy of a sunny Saturday in October.

“You know you don’t have to stay on the paved path” No further words required as my fearless companion took her cue and the worn dirt path into the woods.

How different it is for her to take the route that would have been second nature to me, in freedom and fearlessness on the journey to imagination and confidence.