Everyday miracles

 I went hiking by myself on a gorgeous Fall day. When I returned to my car I realized my fob key to my car was missing from my pack. I frantically pawed through my pack looking in every possible crevice and opening. It was gone.

I walked back onto the trail and retraced my beginning steps to no avail. Luckily I carry a spare non fob key with me when I hike. I opened the door manually with my spare key and it set off my car alarm. It was loud and my car was parked in a residential neighborhood near the start of the trail. It took me a long time to figure out how to shut off the alarm. Neighbors were coming out of their homes and dogs were barking.

I finally touched the unlock switch on my driver side door and to my relief, the blaring stopped. By then I was late to my acupuncture appointment. I drove there feeling the stress of losing my key in my tight aching shoulders and stomach.

In my acupuncture sessions there is a twenty minute period when I rest in silence to let the needles in my body do their work. This time my mind raced with all the what ifs of losing my keys and hatching a plan of what to do next. Not very restful to say the least.

It was getting dark when we were done and I knew returning to the trail in the dark wasn’t in my best interest. I am glad I was thinking clearly enough to know that!

After a fretful night of sleep, I returned to the trail the next morning. My plan was to retrace all of my steps and do the entire hike again. I was hopeful, yet I knew it was a long shot that I ever saw my key again. Visions of the cost of replacing the fob floated through my mind. 

Often I will go on a binge of self recrimination and self blame after I make a mistake. I could catch the part of me that obsessively judges myself and appreciate her attempts to protect me and return to being present. Years of therapy were coming to harvest.

The trail starts with about forty wooden steps. As I began the climb, a group of runners were coming down the steps. I asked them if anyone had seen my keys. One of them said, “There are keys up there a ways on a rock. “  I climbed up the trail with hope in my heart and found the rock.   On the rock up the trail shining in the sun was my key. If the runner hadn’t told me about the key up on the rock I could easily have missed seeing it.

 A sense of gratitude swept over my entire body. I clutched the key in my hand as I began to rehike the trail again. This time, I walked with a sense of the miracle of finding my key flooding my being. I hiked without needing to search in every crevice of the trail for my lost key. I felt a clear sense of validation for my belief that things can work out. Someone had found my key and placed it on the rock right where they found it. 

As I rounded a ridge on the trail, still clutching my key, and filled with a sense of wonder and awe of the beautiful fall colors and my good fortune, I saw the setting moon in the sky over the mountains. 

I have had a long relationship and felt held in love by grandmother moon, as I called her. Sometimes I even howl to her at night, when I can let go of thinking my neighbors think I’m nuts.

Seeing the moon there and taking in the yellows and oranges of the trees and feeling grateful that my strong 76 year old body could do this hike twice in two days, I was aware of lifes daily miracles.

I decided to share this experience and set the intention to notice the miracles all around me happening every day. I invite you to do the same. Thank you for listening.