In the cold crisp mountain air

Birthdays. Celebration. Jubilation. A time to give thanks. A time to acknowledge a life, a time, a soul's journey.

C.C. and I both celebrated our birthdays this weekend. His was Saturday, mine Sunday. We drove up to the mountains, past Lake Louise on to the Highway to Jasper and stopped at Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, a beautiful oasis nestled on the shores of Bow Lake, beneath the soaring beauty of dark mountain peaks striated with snow and ice.

We drove into the sunset bruising the sky rose and purple and indigo. Darkness had settled in when we arrived. The snow was white against the dark of night. Stars glittered in the sky above. The air was cold and clear. The vast white expanse of the lake stretched out before us. The welcoming lights of the Lodge twinkled in anticipation of our arrival.

We had dinner beside a roaring fire. Laughed and chatted. Sipped wine and watched the flames burn. After dinner we moved to the library where in front of another blazing fire we played cribbed and C.C. teased me about my lack of card playing skills. In the cool comfort of our room, we nestled beneath the eiderdown, the silence enveloping us in its welcome embrace. Serene. Calm. Peaceful.

These are moments where cherished memories are created in the desire to become more than the sum of two people spending a weekend together. These are moments when possibility awakens to the potential of two hearts opening up to each other without reservation as they surrender and fall into that space where love carries them through good times, hard times, shared times.

It was a weekend of laughter, of shared stories, of shared moments, of happiness floating on the cold crisp mountain air.

It was perfect.