The Monticello Trail has been closed for the past several months — for the entire Spring!

I have had to scout out new terrain, meander through unknown woods, circle nearby ponds, and mosey up and down the street in my very own neighborhood. Of all things, right?

But I am lucky. We all are, if we can find a patch of green. Beauty is all around, and I am well. Besides, the luxury of exploring new vistas has given me a sense of expansion during a time of restriction.

I am grateful to have been able to leave my house and find solace even if sometimes it was just on a paved road. But in the last few days, I have lost the drive to walk down these alternate paths, and I am not sure what this means. I have been feeling far, far from home, depleted from both the duration and the length of quarantine.

Late last night in meditation, I asked for help and my plea was simple:

“I need something to give, Spirit, can you help?”

The next morning I heard the news: The Trail is re-opening!

Soon, I will end my longest hiatus in 17 years! Difficult to fathom even by me. When I tell folks that my longest Trail absence pre-quarantine was two weeks, they look at me with awe before bewilderment slowly sets in.

Wow, that is amazing, but…how can that be? What about the other parks in town? And what happens when you travel?!

The words I wrote long ago come back to me now:

“I walk to accomplish something, to say that I have traveled. You see…I travel regularly, almost daily for my work. I have seen the world! “ I tell my friends, who have in a different sort of way…”

“Well, you know, you may sleep at your house,” a friend once reminded me, “But the Trail is your home.”

We all have all had to forgo travel as we know it, and try to come home to ourselves in quarantine, but sometimes the land holds it in a way like no other. Sometimes the land is our home. And now more than ever, it feels good to be back home.

~ KB