Meet 🐾 Addie
Trail Companion
Some companions don’t just walk beside us.
They teach us how to greet the world.
The Journey
Addie came into my life unexpectedly.
She had spent the beginning of her life tied beside a car beneath the hot flatland sun.
When my brother brought her home, she quietly made a different decision.
She chose me.
From that day forward, we belonged to one another.
The mountains became our playground.
Together we wandered countless trails beneath ponderosa pines,
Aspen Groves,
explored Challenger Mountain,
and explored quiet places where the only sounds were moving water and birdsong.
If there was a creek…
she was already in it.
Not just splashing through.
She would settle into the icy water as though she’d discovered the finest place on earth.
Watching her taught me something.
Joy doesn’t have to be complicated.
Sometimes it’s simply cold water on a warm day.
The Deer
One of my favorite memories wasn’t really about Addie at all.
It was about watching the deer watch her.
They would stand perfectly still while I threw a ball across the meadow.
The fawns seemed especially puzzled.
Why would anyone throw something…
only to have someone else bring it back?
Their curiosity made me smile.
Every now and then, one of the deer and Addie would quietly size each other up.
Not with fear.
Not with anger.
Just two wild hearts meeting for a moment before continuing on their separate ways.
The mountain has always been full of conversations that don’t require words.
Her Gift
Addie had a habit of hugging people.
Not everyone.
Just the ones who seemed to need it.
She would wrap herself gently around their legs as if to say,
“You’re not alone.”
I never understood how she knew.
I only knew that she was almost always right.
Those Eyes
One sky blue.
One warm brown.
Some people noticed how unusual they were.
I noticed how completely they reflected her spirit.
One eye seemed to hold the endless Colorado sky.
The other carried the warm earth beneath our feet.
She belonged to both.
From the Keeper
Some companions teach us endurance.
Some teach us courage.
Addie taught me delight.
She reminded me to take the longer trail.
To stop beside cold water.
To greet strangers kindly.
To hug freely.
To remain curious.
And to remember that the world still holds endless reasons to wag your tail.
Though her paws no longer leave prints beside mine…
I still find her on nearly every trail.
Sometimes in a splash of cold creek water.
Sometimes in the curious glance of a deer.
Sometimes in the simple feeling that joy is waiting just around the next bend.
She rescued me every bit as much as I rescued her.
Continue Wandering…
🌊 The Waters
Where cold creeks remind us to play.
🌿 The Herbarium
Plants gathered along the trail.
📖 Mountain Journal
Stories from the mountains we loved.
🤎 Meet the Keeper
The hands and heart behind the mountain.
🏡 Welcome Home
The trail always begins here.
5K High Altitude Apothecary 