On Saturday night I went snowshoeing at Mount Seymour.
I was there as a media guest. Jane Ince had organized the trip and Carla Mont from Tourism BC was along too.
We would be joining an organized snowshoe expedition that included a chocolate fondue.
I said yes because I knew that both of these women were quick to laugh and it sounded like a trifecta of laughter, outdoor fun and chocolate.
Who would say no to that??
But when Saturday rolled around, it found me tired and wanting a nap. As I rummaged around, trying to find my snow gear, I was regretting the plan. It would be so much easier to stay at home and watch a movie, but I’d said yes, so…
Sure enough, it was cold up there, but still, the view over Vancouver was gorgeous…Once our group got going, I envisioned a headlamp-enhanced jaunt in the snowy woods, followed by a fondue at a warming hut or perhaps the lodge. Soon enough I promised myself, I’d be back home.
We hadn’t been out very long when our guide, told us to stop at the ‘lounge’. Deep in the snowy woods was a snow bench curving around a round snow table. We were handed bum pads for the bench, and in short order, we were soon dipping our bowls of fruit pieces into melty dark chocolate. The smell of cocoa hung in the glittering air.
Chocolate dripped onto my chin and speckled the snow. Lots more of it made it into my belly. The group was great and the snow was magically deep. We tromped like bears down hills and became silent when he suggested we turn off our headlights to walk in the reflected snow light. It was like we had stepped into our own glowing black and white movie. The trees, piled with Dr. Seuss-like snowy shapes, stood sentinel over our trail.
I didn’t want it to end.
On the drive back to the city, Jane summed it up for me.
“I decided,” she said with a very firm voice, “that my New Year’s Resolution was to look for opportunities to embrace joy….too many times, I say I can’t fit it in or it doesn’t work with my schedule. Not any more. I’m grabbing joy from now on.”
Then and there, I added another resolution to my list. In fact, I kicked all the rest of them off the list.
After all, do you really need much more than to open yourself to the possibility of joy?
That sounds like it was a gift from the universe… I’m working to stay more open to serendipity and fending off passivity this winter too. It’s a day at a time struggle, but even if all I do is get a ramble in the woods on a rainy day, ‘unstructured nature’ (as you put it recently) and chance encounters with like-minded people adds new and unplanned for energy into the day. Great. Now I HAVE to go for that afternoon hike! As if I needed another reason to avoid accounting day.
Ah yes…Accounting Avoidance Syndrome.
I have some bad news. You can do both!
Get outside and then come back and attack those numbers with an oxygen-enhanced brilliance. Really. It’s true.
I remain yours in ‘fending off passivity’ (love that!)
No, you don’t. And we all find it in our own wonderful ways.
Thanks for the confirmation Carol. Isn’t that what makes us all so interesting? There’s the guy who is nearly delirious when he finds a new stamp for his collection and then the woman who grabs joy every time she swings on a trapeze. Gotta love that diversity thing!