{"id":6281,"date":"2015-12-26T21:45:51","date_gmt":"2015-12-27T02:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/?p=6281"},"modified":"2017-04-20T11:43:11","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T15:43:11","slug":"at-the-speed-of-a-cranefly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/?p=6281","title":{"rendered":"At the speed of a cranefly"},"content":{"rendered":"

My day was saved by this leaf.<\/p>\n

Perfect day for a hike: sunshine and near 70 degrees. But I couldn’t bear the thought of hiking.<\/p>\n

Even after sleeping nearly 12 hours, I got worn out from just heating and eating lunch, taking a shower and distributing leftover cornbread to the birds. No energy left for reading, much less trudging through the woods.<\/p>\n

I collapsed on the couch, disgruntled.\u00a0Although by now I know this is just a normal dip in my recovery path, I still find it hard to accept.<\/p>\n

Eventually I fell into a nap, but woke up unrefreshed. It was nearly 3:30.<\/p>\n

Tom was going for a hike, and I said, “OK, I can at least walk a mile around the playfield.”<\/p>\n

I drove slowly, still groggy. I forced myself to walk that mile. But – my time was significantly shorter than my previous playfield walk 10 days ago. I’m walking faster.<\/p>\n

Encouraged, I decided to add on a short hike through the woods.<\/p>\n

That’s when I truly woke up – at nearly 5 p.m. Because I saw the leaf.<\/p>\n

A familiar December sight: the crinkly, dark-veined leaves of the cranefly orchid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This plant is one of the few which puts out blossoms long after the leaves have died. I know that I will keep seeing these leaves into the spring, and then they’ll disappear.<\/p>\n

But if I come back to that spot next August, I’ll see delicate pink blossoms arrayed on a foot-high stem.<\/p>\n

\"Wikimedia<\/a>
Wikimedia commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I smiled at the leaf and took its photo, I imagined the seasons changing around it, the leaf dying and disappearing, the stem rising, and the flowers blooming.<\/p>\n

And with each month of each season, my steps quicker and more assured, my brain a little clearer.<\/p>\n

I don’t like waiting. But nature has taught me a particular kind of certainty in the seasons.<\/p>\n

It isn’t patience. It’s faith.<\/p>\n

Sure as a cranefly orchid blooms, next August will see me hiking the full length of the trail at full speed.<\/p>\n

Today’s penny is a 2013, the year I finally put leaf and blossom together to identify a cranefly orchid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My day was saved by this leaf. Perfect day for a hike: sunshine and near 70 degrees. But I couldn’t bear the thought of hiking. Even after sleeping nearly 12 hours, I got worn out from just heating and eating lunch, taking a shower and distributing leftover cornbread to the birds. No energy left for … read more At the speed of a cranefly<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[321],"tags":[94,297,498,500,499,497,504,173,501],"class_list":["post-6281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tress","tag-94","tag-faith","tag-flower","tag-forest","tag-hike","tag-orchid","tag-recovery","tag-seasons","tag-slow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6281"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6300,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6281\/revisions\/6300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lisaschnellinger.com\/pennies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}