Yosemite Contentment.

El Portal, California---I am sitting comfortably on an Adirondack chair on the front porch of my friend’s homey wooden house in the mountains that face Yosemite. I can see a waterfall in the distance and the mountain range that seems to go on forever.  I am wrapped in a blanket with a cup of hot coffee resting on the chair. As I write this I hear only the sound of birds and the whistle of the wind through the trees.

It is early. Everyone is sleeping.

The houses here in this tiny village about a mile from the entrance of Yosemite’s gate are nestled into the side of hills with some roads that are dirt, some roughly paved. They are all individual looking homes, mostly wooden, some stone but all very unique. Similarly though, they all have huge piles of wood for their fireplaces. My friend has no heat and they must rely on this wood through the winter. No one has fancy yards. My friend has the most amazing yard of blooming wild flowers. A small field of yellow daisies are below this porch. And more flowers in all kinds of containers, even a bathtub.

I take a deep, deep breath. The air is…well, delicious.

And so is my coffee, a brand called “Peets” which I had not heard of but the husband professes is better than Starbucks.

I see a bird that has been squawking at me all morning start to dive bomb my friend’s cat. The cat does nothing but continue to walk under my Hyundai.

Last night I emptied my Hyundai of anything and everything that may smell like or be food items. I never would have thought of it but my friend highly advised it due to bears. Bears? Just a part of living and working at Yosemite National Park.

I grew up with this friend. She was my first adventurous outdoorsy partner. One year older than me she became a role model in many ways. We were a part of a group that had climbed mountains in Colorado, rowed white water in Arkansas, and camped many times. Together we had ridden our 10-speeds to high school and back several times; a 30 mile round trip trek. And one summer we had decided to go see a lake that was an 80 mile trip. At 16 years old on hilly country roads without water in the heat of a Kansas summer, we had no idea that our brilliant ideas were a little dangerous.

Yesterday I asked her about her husband and marriage. She had immediately said, “Oh I love my guy. He’s my best friend. We work together and play together. We take space when we need it.” Her husband is an avid climber and she has climbed but is an avid hiker and knows every nook and cranny in and around the valley.

And now here I sit looking towards Yosemite. I look around me and it is just so beautiful. I was here 20 years ago to see her and haven’t seen her since. I never understood her life choices but now, I finally get it. I understand why my smart friend with a college degree moved here to work in the Ahwahnee Lodge restaurant and never left. She told me yesterday that her husband just passed the 35 year mark and she just got her plaque for 30 years of service, yet she says, she is still 15^th in seniority!

What occurs to me is as I have worked a career that was fast and furious, hoping for a future of something more, she passed go and went straight for something more; a peaceful, happy life.

Everyone has a path, a journey in a life full of choices. I’m so proud of her. I don’t have the ego to not have tried to “prove myself” in the work force. Some people are born at peace with themselves I guess.

I told her that I was proud of her.

She laughed and said, “But I haven’t done anything.”

Oh but I think you have.