… I know I am a little too late this week but I had to deal with two big problems that temporarily kept me away from writing…  😉

… Many years ago, before that deceitful chronic illness took over the rule in my body and destroyed most of the muscles in my legs, I used to undertake long walks through the mountain woods of my homeland. Usually I got up at about four o’clock when it still has been dark outside and left the house very silent, trying not to disturb my sleeping parents. I put on the backpack stuffed with a big Thermos bottle of hot and sweet tea, some sandwiches and a big red cheeked apple, took the walking sticks and marched off, heading towards the mountains…

… After half an hours walk the dense and cold and damp jungle like forest embraced me, the path got rougher, narrow and steep. While slowly and thoughtfully walking upwards I always used to ponder about the problems I had to deal with recently. It was as if my steady rhythm of steps, the deep breathing, the strong heartbeat, combined with the sharp, clear and spicy-tart air and the peaceful, church like surrounding seemed to work like catalysts that strengthened the ability to think logical and impartial, to look in a more neutral way and from different angles at things that some hundred miles away, in the big city I lived, had made my life harder…

… In the meantime it had become rather bright, an uncountable choir of birds rose its pure and sweet voices to greet and worship the new day, deer wandered through the light green and dense undergrowth, following a softly murmuring creek, their furry coats where shimmering like fresh pressed copper coins, and their large black eyes gleamed while they were stopping nearby and curiously watching me, the lonely intruder. I stood still and talked to them in a low and soft voice, they pricked their ears and widened their nostrils – and then they dashed off in giant leaps. Fidgety squirrels tossed around huge fir tree trunks that were rutted with age, clamoring at me loudly. A snake lied curled up on a large stone near the path, patiently waiting for the warm rays of the rising sun…

… The path through my beloved homelike wood lead me to a passage, the dense and deep green wilderness slowly retreated – and there he was, the big and bright shining sun, embracing me with his warm and tender glow. I left the green dome of the forest behind me, with a few more steps I reached the mountains summit. A soft and fresh wind was rooting in my hair, I looked down to the valley I have started my tour some hours ago, and then up to the sky high chain of mountains that surrounded me, and I felt so blissful and detached, freed from every burden that had pressed me down during the last weeks. My soul was full of peace and confidence again. I took a seat on a softly curved boulder, unpacked my snack and started to eat…