Stopped In Our Tracks

Stopped In Our Tracks
            Occasionally, my severely autistic son stops suddenly in his tracks. Sometimes he appears to be in distress. Sometimes he’s just frozen in place.
            A neurological blip hitting a temporary off switch? A tangible memory he’s struggling to process? Stomach cramps?
            We don’t know. He has enough language to request a favorite food or person. He can yell words when he wants help spelling something for a YouTube search.
            But he can’t tell us why he abruptly freezes.
            Every life has frozen-in-the-tracks moments. An unexpected illness. Loss of a friendship, or a job, or one’s sense of self. Death of a loved one.
            My son snaps out of his frozen states eventually.
            The time-space continuum shifts into forward gear and his feet move on the trail again.
            Same for the rest of us. Despite life’s explosions that shock us into a stop-motion state, we get up and move again.
            One of our “stop-in-our-tracks” moments was when our son’s beloved “autism whisperer” passed away suddenly (see In Memory and Thanks). 
            We’re still here. We’re still walking.
            Keep putting one foot forward.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Phyllis Ellman Trail to Ring Mountain, leads up a hilly, rocky path to Ring Mountain in Tiburon. (For an outing directly to the Ring Mountain rock formation areas, see previous post, Ring Mountain-Tiburon.) 
            Please feel free to share. If you’re not able to take one of these Northern California hikes, hopefully you can enjoy the photos!
            The list of hikes is getting long! Please check the Quick View Hike List or scroll down the main Hikes page to see the current list of hike notes.
New this week:
Hike Notes 63: Phyllis Ellman Trail to Ring Mountain