Today I return to Oregon to visit my precious granddaughter. I am always apprehensive about flying, but see it as essential in order to visit family. I will be part of the "village" she needs in order to be cared for and nurtured while her babysitter is away. A good book and a neck pillow seem to ease the angst of flying.

The other day as I was hiking in a beautiful area of southern Kentucky, I tried to blend my being with nature by asking myself this question: If I could be a rock or moving water which would I want to be? A rock is solid, strong, secure, changing little over time, always there. A stream is fluid, ever changing, always moving. Yet water is still always there, just changing forms. They both have qualities that I both admire and disdain. Where would I fall in the comparison or better yet, which would I prefer to be?