Happy life up high

The wisps of sunlight peer around lenticular lollipops of back-lit clouds and sneak into the comfort of the tree net. Beautiful and unique, retired ropes wound around the void between branches to create an intricately woven cocoon. I sway along with the limbs in the wind and open a wonderful story of my childhood: Jonathan Livingston Seagull. As I imagine that I am soaring into the colorful afternoon sky, cutting through clouds with wingtips, I recall a similar experience the day before under my bright blue parachute. Listening to the songs of golden finches and mourning doves, I feel at one with them in the tree here. The wind tickles my sunburnt skin and I strettttcch…… ahhh. The toes wiggle unprompted and curl beneath the layers of woven cord as my hands reach to the sky that I love so much.

Sometimes, when I breathe in on a hot July day, I feel the essence of the desert enter my lungs and pump into my heart, where it stays, glowing orange with desire and imagination. What a splendid place, with its great soft dunes and happy juniper and sage. Tempestuous bursts of rain fill the canyons anew and wash them clean to perpetuate history. I walk through the moist sand and gaze in amazement at the remnants of a happy and fastidious culture; their artifacts remaining untouched by human hands until this moment when I pick up a colorful arrowhead. A smile melts across my face in the midday heat…

The clouds glow red not because the sun is low but because it reflects off the expansive desert below. If only to know this territory like a bird! Perched high on the rock, looking down below to the tiny trees and the green mountains in the distance, I watch a redtail circle with the warming thermals from the slickrock around us. We catch each other’s eyes as I fall into the sky around me. The bright blue parachute opens with a soft bang and the lines hug me tight. For a few moments I am a marionette, suspended by strings and at liberty of the desires of the universe. For now I fly to safety back to the sandy earth. Far from the troubles of population, I am content alone with my happy thoughts, with the wonderful friends who join my attempts to rekindle wildness in a world of idleness and inactivity. Pursuing happiness in ways not even known yet; an adventure each moment of the day.

So here I sit in this beautiful net, woven with the fabric of dreams and the colorful ideas of even more colorful people. As I sit here smiling, I grow into a happier being. Day by day life manifests in unique ways that I cannot preemptively fathom. Come join me in this tree, or in another place of your own design. Stop and listen to the birds, look to the sky, and allow the adventures in your future to unfold themselves in spectacular ways.