Honor them

Do you know those moments where you just feel something is about to go wrong? Last summer, I was walking on a rugged trail in Colorado when I paused and had a feeling of needing to turn back wash over me.

“Come on, Anne! It’s a pretty day. Don’t turn around now.”

I talked myself out of it and continued on only to step directly on top of a rattlesnake mere steps from where I had paused. I managed to escape unscathed but extremely rattled (see what I did there). I still think about that moment often – Why didn’t I listen to what I felt? What would have happened had I gotten bit? It was a two hour walk back to my car and I had hardly seen any other hikers that day considering it was the middle of the day on a weekday.

Hilariously, I was only taking that overgrown trail because the prior trail I wanted to hike had a cub and momma bear hanging out on it! The only other hiker I saw that day managed to run into them just before I did and we mutually agreed it was best to turn back. For someone who is terrified of bears, I’ve seen far too many of them out in the wild.

Yesterday, I headed out to play pick-up soccer with my favorite group of older, international men. Lacing up my cleats, I heard two talking in Italian while a Jamaican man and Welsh man jabbed each other with humorous, friendly insults. I was relieved when I saw the group of three Japanese men arrive wearing dark shirts. I purposefully wore my black t-shirt hoping I’d be able to play with them as they hustle and communicate way more than the rest of the men. It was a sunny, glorious afternoon game filled with equal amounts of cursing and laughing.

At one point, I got the ball down the left side and looked up to realize I had an opening to go to goal. In that moment, everything felt right – I knew I was going to score the second my foot touched the ball. I beat two men in front of me with a few quick touches and before anyone could get to me ripped a shot in the upper right hand corner. I was already smiling before I shot knowing it was going in.

It feels rare to have these kinds of moments of clarity and I’m so loving learning how to honor them.