Yesterday morning, Rich  invited me to a memorial hike to honor his daughter, Allie, who died in a car accident last week.  This really hit home for me.  The pain was all too real.  Someone I love and care about had lost the one thing that no parent ever wants to lose.  Another friend, Re, miscarried the day before this. She wrote a little post on Facebook that went like this:  "It was a wisp, a dandelion seed, a spider silk, a puff of smoke."  "A thing too fragile for this world...But it was real...."

I came to realize that the pain is the same no matter how old the child is.  

Intemann trail is one of my favorite "low elevation" trails.  It starts at Ruxton near Spring Street.  This is where we memorialized Allie.  I included memorializing the dandelion seed as well.  It was special.  There were only 7 or 8 of us.  Rich said "No running, we are going to walk, and look at the flowers and the sights." That is what Allie did when she went running with dad.  He said "look left, look right, look at the beauty we always seem to run by while looking down at the trail in front of us."

All I did on this little jaunt was take some pictures and talk to my fellow hikers.  RIch joked as we walked up Ruxton: "When's the last time you WALKED up this road?"  I don't think I've ever walked up Ruxton until yesterday.

I'm not a flower expert.  My mother was, and she loved wild flowers.  She had them all over her yard when she and my father lived in Beulah.  Their yard was spectacular with color in the summer.  They are pretty. And sometimes, running down the trail at what feels like breakneck speed, I just blaze right on by and never know what beauty I have just missed.

As we headed down the trail, and I conversed with people I had never met or barely knew, I realized that it is at times like these that it is so very important to have good support networks.  People who care and will help when all things seem in disarray.  I felt honored to be among the friends to make this journey.

Orange!  It's a favorite of mine.  Maybe it's the Broncos.  Who knows?  But Orange sticks out in the green weeds and natural grasses off trail.  Easy to miss at 7:00 pace, but hard to miss when walking--a wisp

Although we were on a hike, and not a "workout," I thought this view of my favorite hill was quite impressive.  The contrast of the blue morning sky against the dark greens of the mountain are stunning..--a spider silk  

Intemann Trail is a pretty long trail.  If you take it from beginning to end, it is easily 5-6 miles where it connects to Section 16/Palmer Ridge.  The group I hiked with was only going to climb Iron Mountain.  I had to cut my trip a little short as I needed to go to work. So I cut out at Pawnee road and headed back to the car.  I hugged my friends and left them.  It gave me 1/3 mile to contemplate, pray, and mourn alone.

God bless all those who are suffering the loss of a loved one.  

A white flower.  Another little jewel on the trail.--a puff of smoke

 Life is full of color.   Sometimes we need only slow down and take a look.  Stop and smell the...