It’s so difficult this journey, it’s so lonely too. Oberon is there, I wish he could talk, he just bounces around and follows me, bringing me sticks to throw that he finds along the path, he even finds rocks and he loves rocks.  He’s like a little boy when it comes to collecting rocks. He seems to find the strangest things on this path. But I am getting so tired. I need to rest.

It’s midday, the sun is high in the sky and too hot to continue. I find a large tree. It’s interesting, it’s gnarled limbs climbing high to the sky, but low enough I can rest on one like a hammock so I don’t have to lie on the ground. Oberon explores the area around the tree and the stream.  The stream gurgles softly, the birds chirp overhead, and I smell the faint perfume of wildflowers. For a short while I can actually do some meditation and forget the struggles of yesterday, the dragon chasing me, the anxieties that plague my thoughts.  My eyes get heavy as I relax and let my thoughts calm.   This spot is heavenly and quiet. It’s so beautiful here. I wish I didn’t have to move on.

Suddenly Oberon, with his muddy little paws comes bounding up to me and jumps on my stomach. “Oh no, don’t do this me, look at me, all this mud on my clothes!”  Just when I thought everything was going smoothly that little dog has to get me all dirty. Now,what did he dig up? What does he have in his mouth this time! I don’t want him eating anything dangerous.  Let me look. “Come on, give it to me”.  Another stick, no, not a stick, something much more. It looks like a —wand?

Photo: Lair of the Bear Park, Gunnison, Colorado. Photography by Candace Stauber, 2015