I love to go a wandering.....

Here in Sedona, we are surrounded by hiking trails.   It's a hiker's Mecca, and people come from all over the world to enjoy these beautiful trails wending through the high desert,  up mountain slopes, around red rock formations, and along streams and washes.

      I am looking forward to a hike this afternoon with a friend who loves hiking as much as I do, and has explored most of the trails in this area.  I feel reconnected to my childhood in the Himalaya mountains, where my favorite thing to do was to explore the mountain trails with a friend,  soaking in the beauty and always wondering what was around the next bend.  

      When I turned sixty, I had a special "croning" birthday party with close friends, and one of the things we did was to have my friends stand in two lines joining hands to create a passageway through which I walked as we all sang a song that sums it all up for me:

       "I love to go a wandering along life's mountain track,

         And as I go I love to sing with a knapsack on my back.

         Valarie,  valara, valara, valera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, valerie, valera,

         With a knapsack on my back.

O may I go a wandering, until the day I die,

And as I go, O let me sing with my head held towards the sky.....

Valerie.........with my head held towards the sky.