If the canyon walls could talk

It's been a while, but it feels like time again.

I'm living in Los Angeles and have been finding myself in Canyons- pushing through hot, ouch, what the heck am I doing and why am I here. These hikes have gotten me out of my house and out of by brain as I'm job searching and getting settled. I'm diggin' it here because it had been way too long since I challenged myself. No offense Portland, but Lori is right. After 15 years of living in your fair city limits, you became a Velvet Rut.

My fingers are dug into the dirt and I'm taking a 'short-cut' from the canyon floor up a hill that connects to a switch back slower ascent up the canyon. This shortcut, from the floor, looks like a climb, yes, but doesn't look that steep. Moments earlier I decided to try it and right now, I am finding myself gripping on to dried out dirt clods and loose grasses and clay falling out of my fingers and down the incline, already too far up and too determined to turn back. Finding my ego but also my confidence in a situation probably best left to people who have actually done this before.

But people who have done this before had to do this for a first time, right?

This whole LA adventure- moving here, leaving Joe dog and Marty cat, friends, ironically a beautifully remodeled house, family and friends- in all of it- I'm digging my claws in, grasping for dirt and making it up the hill.

As I'm climbing, I see 2 guys and a dog in my peripheral vision, cause I'm not looking back down. And a dog. The dog is bounding up the hill, stops to check me out, then keeps going. The 2 guys check in with me, too... 'Are you doing ok?' Feeble yes. Obligatory smile. I say, 'I've never done this before'. They, 'Runyon or this hill?' Either one ha ha ha nervously. 'It's all about confidence. Take steps and dig in. You can do it. You just have to go for it.'

So I do. And they were right. I made it up, in the end, a little bit bloody from a close encounter with a dead tree limb, stuck with burs that will probably never come out of my favorite yoga pants, panting, smiling and covered in LA dirt. But I did it. And honest to goodness, the smile that came from digging in and telling myself I could and then actually making it work, that's what this adventure is all about.

I am thankful to be finding myself in Los Angeles.