The early morning summer light has traveled elsewhere and so Hannah, my black lab, and I have to do our early morning walk in the dark. Hannah is only 13 months old, so our first early morning walks began in the dark of late Autumn a year ago. I must admit that it was challenging for both Hannah and I to set out in the dark last year. I wasn’t very familiar with walking in our neighborhood and so those adventures had a certain amount of fear connected to them. When spring came bringing her light earlier and earlier each day Hannah and I had a new energy about our walking. Summer’s light gave us a confidence that our morning walk could be fun and good for both of us.

Summer’s light has shifted to autumn’s light sleeping in, barely yawning into the last segment of our daily walk. But this year it is different, as we have walked these steps in the light of spring and summer. Our eyes and the soles of our feet have almost five months of memory, where the landscape of walks had clearness of sight.

These daily morning walks are such a good companion to my inner landscape walks. The ebb and flow of unknown journeying given familiarity by practice and moments of grace and light…walking in the cycling of the seasons of the soul.