A few weeks ago, I made you a promise: I would write all winter, and I would share my words in places where they could be found.
So today, the first day in this untrammeled new year, I decided to begin fulfilling that promise:
I went to the back yard and found a stone.
I uncapped a Sharpie and scribbled down some words.
And then Thomas and I drove out to Sharp Top Mountain and got out of the car, the stone clutched tight by my side.
We hiked all the way up in the snow, rising higher and higher until it seemed that the blue hills rolled on forever, the sunset-washed horizon disappearing in a gentle curve.
When we came back down, I made sure that the stone was nestled on the back side of a fallen log just off the beaten path.
It’s a mere five feet away from a place every hiker will pass on her way up the mountain. But it’s also just far enough that you’d have to step off the path to see it. You’d have to stop to see the gorgeous furrows of the tree’s bark, or to take a slow breath. And I love that. Because I figure someone might find the stone tomorrow, or it might take two years.
They might take the stone home with them, or they might leave it for someone else.
They might scribble over it. Or not.
It doesn’t belong to me anymore… Which is exactly how I wanted it.
*
Today is the first day of a new project for me, and with it comes a promise: every day for the next 30 days, I’ll leave a new secret message in a place where someone might find it … or might never find it at all. And then I’ll share it with you here.
For now, I’ll leave you with a full set of words from that stone…
Begin:
0ne foot forward — just one.
the path is leafstrewn;
the trees hunch low.
at first step, though,
the limbs lift and shift,
parting the way…
keep walking.
Happy New Year, everybody… Whatever journey you begin today, just keep going. I’ll be right there with you. ❤
ASHLEY WILSON FELLERS 