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I went for the most incredible walk the other day. I took a wrong turn and suddenly there I was, at this place that was so familiar and comforting. Without really thinking about it, I turned in, parked my car, and found myself wandering these trails I had been down so many times before.

At first, it was nostalgia that carried me into the woods, the memory of Andrew toddling up ahead, squatting down on little legs to collect leaves and touch the mushrooms. It filled my heart with such joy to remember that time, when life took on a fullness and a richness I never could have imagined before he came into my life.

I came to a place where the path split, and thinking of Robert Frost (the dork that I am), I chose the path less travelled. Then it was the sheer joy of discovery that urged me forward – each turn a new possibility. The woods around me were teaming with life, a steady rhythm and tranquility that I found very reassuring.

Everywhere I looked I saw life – life, and death, and rebirth. This great endless cycle of life. I saw trees that grew crooked, bent to reach for the sun, trees that grew sideways, even one that grew in a circle. It was a great reminder to me of how resilient life is – how it will always fight to find a way. And somehow I knew that I would be all right, whatever the future holds.

I walked until I found a spot nestled among the trees that seemed as if it had been made just for me. The water was so calm, a perfect mirror of the stillness around me. The canopy of trees was my shelter and protection, and as the wind blew through them, it filled my heart with peace. I wish I could have stayed lost in that perfect moment.

But as I pointed out, life finds a way of moving on. So much has happened in the hours that have passed since then. I find myself sitting here at Starbuck’s willing time to turn back to find that peace and stillness once again and hold it in my heart, to care for it tenderly and nurture it till it grows into something strong and beautiful that remains with me.