gratitude

I just had one of those Wow moments. Realized that I am regularly engaging in activities that just a year ago seemed like things I might like to try someday, but still exotic and out of reach. For me, these things involve climbing and skiing big gnarly mountains and pedaling (and sometimes sort of jumping...a little...a tiny bit...okay, more like hopping) my bike over scary wooden contraptions in the woods. Climbing big mountains and jumping my bike used to seem awesome but intimidating, reserved for people who have skill and/or knowledge. Of which I have neither.

It's still intimidating and I still don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it. I've got scratches and bruises and moments of being scared out of my wits- but I'm doing it. A year ago, all this stuff was merely an idea, an idea typically pondered while enviously studying pictures of other people's lives on various internet forums. (hey, I've never claimed to be cool...) But I'm learning. And I'm doing it.

Living my own version of those pictures, actually experiencing what I didn't fully realize was an absolutely passionate vision of a life lived near big mountains and organic farms; shared with bikes, skis, dogs and a husband who enjoys it all as much as I do; has been incredible so far. You know, the whole dreams-really-do-come-true thing. You know what else is cool? Knowing that what seems exotic and far-reaching today might someday, if I'm lucky enough to become enamored with it, become "normal" and morph into a beautiful everyday existence. And so it goes.

Thank you, benevolent universe.