It’s been a year like no other and we can only hope there is no other like it in the near future.

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But today I had the opportunity to look through the long-range lens and reflect upon the fact that the past can quickly go out of focus.

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The trail may have had lumps and humps and water and ice, but there were ways to get around its slipperiness.

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One of the major take-aways was that when a tree’s inner bark offers you wood fiber–take it and weave a cocoon into which you can wait until it’s safe to emerge, most likely in a changed form.

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Another take-away when you suddenly find yourself spending so much time at home–redecorate, even if that means carving the entryway into the shape of heart to let everyone know that love is greater than fear.

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And . . . whether a hugger or not, warm embraces no matter whether you are of the same heritage or differ, will be even more meaningful when that’s something we can freely offer each other again.

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Perhaps one of the biggest take-aways of all has been learning to go with the flow even when it seems all layers from the heart(wood) to outer coat have nothing left to offer. Somehow, life continues to flow wihin.

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While looking back, one might discover new learnings such as the fact that Ghost Plant or Monotropa uniflora can present stop-in-your-tracks cinnamon-colored hues upon their woody winter forms rather than the expected chocolate brown.

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Slowly, rather than spend time constantly lamenting the past, one’s sight might turn toward the future, though there may have been some influence because one performed a magic trick. And a heart or two may reveal themselves in the midst of showing off eyes of surprise at the immediate act of photosynthesis coaxed when water was poured upon the lungwort.

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Other signs of hope will also be recognized, these in the form of Trailing Arubutus flower buds already taken form while awaiting a May budding.

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And then there are two connected in the dance of time performing their canoodling act first upon scat and then moving onto the.frozen gravely substrate to complete the marriage of their bodies–leaving one wondering about the timing of it all.

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Timing is everything and though our timing was thrown off on so many fronts this past year, nature proved over and over again a sense of when to perform and when to withdraw. Our job was to be quiet and notice.

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And . . . just when it all seemed too much to juggle, 2020 hindsight reminded us to channel our inner clown because you never know what or who you might encounter on a woodland wander and in the end one’s focus really should be on the wonder of it all.

As we put 2020 behind us, let us remember that it taught us so many more lessons than I’ve touched upon here and may we look at 2021 as an opportunity.