Where the Light Rests

Anyone who has been to the Skookumchuk Narrows on the Sunshine Coast of BC may recognize this forest path down from Egmont to the water's edge.

I'm the worst hiking companion. I get waylaid by everything: the spongy earth beneath my feet, the light filtering through the trees, spiderwebs, and fuzzy textured tendrils of moss on trees. I am constantly stopping to listen - to nothing, to the creaking moan of tree limbs swayiing against each other in a light breeze, the conversation of ravens, the excited zeeks of little birds, and sometimes the hum of bees. The growing loudness of the rush of the waters.

I ventured here with my partner while learning to manage my chronic illness. I came away remembering a critical thing: there is beauty in stillness, and there is joy in the midst of struggle.