Belonging...

Writing Retreat Day Five:

Well, since I spent the first three days overcoming challenges, it only makes sense that I spend my last day here facing more. Only today's were a different sort. After surviving the horror that is sharing your work with others for the first time, I decided today would be a fun day. And, that is definitely what it was.

My first challenge was waking up early, a tough one for me. The agent on-staff had seen some baby foxes with their mother on her walk yesterday and asked if I wanted to come again with her today to see if I could get some shots. Unfortunately, after waiting patiently for over an hour, the foxes didn't show. But we still had fun talking and wandering around the town center.

After coming back to the house to grab a quick snack, I was off again with a fellow writer in search of nearby trails for hiking. We drove 20 minutes out of the city, about 10,000 miles up to a 4-mile trail only to find it covered in snow and impassable. But we had a beautiful drive and I got to get some shots of the snow-covered fields. It was the first time I truly appreciated Colorado. After that minor detour, we decided to head back to the house and check out the trail that snakes up the mountain in the backyard. Now, in the past, I have always felt a bit guilty about referring to myself as a hiker, because in Florida, you're really just walking through the forest. But today I became official when I hiked all the way up to the top of a mountain on a foot-wide path that wound back and forth right along the edge with no rails to save you if the icy snow or pebbly sand betrayed your boots. It was great. We had a perfect view of the mountains and came across some interesting trees. After our close to two-hour hike (and amazing two-hour dialogue), we dragged our tired selves into the house for an amazing lunch of home-made fried chicken and gravy. It was perfect.

But that wasn't all. After helping clean up the kitchen and taking a few minutes to check emails, we were off to try again to catch a glimpse of the foxes. We pulled up next to the field and as I was walking toward it, someone whispered, "there they are!" I grabbed my camera and immediately started shooting. I had never seen a fox before. The mother was pacing back and forth, while her babies were wrestling and pouncing on each other. We eventually snuck up surprisingly close to them without them becoming alarmed. Apparently they are used to people because the mother stood right next to the road and later took off through town, perhaps in search of food for her kits.

After going through all 600+ of the photos I'd taken today, I was beat. I went upstairs to write my blog and go to sleep, but was summoned by another of my new friends to play a game of pool. I've only played once in my life, and I was awful. So I thought, I'll just watch. Well I'll just watch turned into ok, just one hit, which turned into me learning how to play pool! And, I am good! I can even jump balls! I had no clue I had such a talent. So, we decided that I should ditch the whole writing thing, and take up a career as a pool shark.

And so went my day. Now I am to write an entry in a journal describing my experience here. How can I put into words an experience that has been the most powerful that I've ever had? It may sound like junior high sleep away camp, but it was more than that. I feel like I have been inducted into a whole new world, filled with amazing, talented, and caring people- people who think like I do. It's such a wonderful thing to be surrounded with people with the same thoughts and passions as you. I've never had that. I have had interests. But when the co-teachers would talk of their passion for teaching, when my fellow students would discuss their love of marine biology, when the designers I worked with got excited over what I saw as a boring project, I felt I didn't belong. Here, I belong. And, that feeling is something you can't put into words.