Letting Go

On Sunday, my daughter and I and some friends went on a hike up to ridge outcropping that looks out over the entire valley. It was windy, breathtakingly crisp. So quiet, except for the dogs who didn't like being away from us. We had tied them up to a tree afraid that they might fall off of the cliff. So, we let them free to be near us and to have quiet. There was so much to see out in the valley and surrounding hills; greens, reds, oranges, yellows. My friend dreamed of making a quilt of the scene. My daughter let her proud mane of hair blow in the wind. Then, I saw the tiniest of spiders hanging out over the cliff. She wasn't any bigger than this a. I couldn't see her thread. She seemed to hovered in mid air still until a swoop of wind swung her out then back again. Such courage to have flung herself out over the cliff, off of a high branch, hoping that the filament would hold. And after alot of swinging, dipping, spinning, she found a place to land (!) miraculously on a shrub of a cedar rooted in the side of the cliff, the tree itself perilously sprouting from a stone. Some days, I feel like that spider and wonder if the filament will hold, if I have enough courage to jump, or reach just a little bit further off of solid ground. No, no, Id rather stay in bed this day...but, then, what if the wind is just right for flying?