The mountains are still covered in snow around and yet I hear them calling me. 

It seems that there are trails that need to be discovered. 

I am up for it as it reminds me of this quote.  

of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. 

– John Muir

Dirt paths seem to be the ones that I love to go on, over and down anytime.

The grit and dust have always brought a smile. 

This is when I was able to throw a few things into a backpack and start up the mountain at dawn. 

There are three times that my paths have included grit.

There are three times that my paths in life have included grit and mountains to climb. 

Let’s start with where I found dirt recently under my nails. 

There is a path in our backyard that I created the first spring we moved into our current home. 

The open space out the backdoor had three steps going down a wooden porch then into a patch of dirt. 

I watched this dirt turn into mud and then begin to dry out after the winter. 

It was then that I knew it was time to create something new. 

What did I have around me that could be used right away? 

Turns out that I had two things: an idea and plants from a friend. 

My evenings were spent laying out the plants to keep a path open. 

The open path out my back door.

The open path out my back door began to show me how to look up and watch for more time to pay attention to beauty right there. 

Creating this path led me to another bit of memory that goes with the quote. 

Another one of my paths in life did lead me to mountains that I have climbed. 

This one came at the end of a race I love to run. 

I did three of these races and I often found that the path up and over the mountains I ran was often filled with less followed paths. 

The mountains were also filled with water, more friends and dirt that found its way into every nook and cranny.

This path of life had been a yearly quest.

This path of life had been a yearly quest and then it came to an end. 

Are there times that your paths come to a close? 

How do you know when it’s time to be done? 

Here’s how I knew this time. 

Paths are sometimes mysterious. Not this time for me. 

I had gone over the last mountain then felt a rush of joy flow through me that made my heart melt. 

The paths of life this time were here to remind what it was all about. 

I felt life come into rhythm.

This time flow came to me, and I felt life come into rhythm, again. 

Flow also came with music, pounding feet and looking at the dirt to see what colors are there. 

What came next leads me to the third of my paths in life. 

It seems the colors of life that I found with my pounding feet stay on my path.

One of these colors that always pop out to me are yellow, like in these tulips. 

I have found this color on a trail that is the reason the mountains are calling me. 

A high trail that leads through alpine passes, meadows of golden wildflowers and a dirt path that I have known since my beginnings. 

This is how I knew to create my path out the backdoor and to know how to create flow. 

The high paths of life brought me time to pause next to tall pines and a pristine lake. 

I became renewed and relaxed on this path and loved the dirt all around. 

This is what I have come to know. 

When my paths of life come together I find that I will be answering the call to get onto the trail. 

Who else is ready?