When Harry Potter received the gift of his invisibility cloak, the note attached proclaimed, “use it well.” Perhaps that’s a message from which we can all benefit. It’s possible that it also pertains to far more than that invisibility cloak that may or may not be hanging in each of our closets. Perhaps, for both the muggles and magic folk of the world, ‘use it well’ applies to our impact, our attitude, and our choices. That impact resonates. It echoes in how we treat people, how we connect, how we enter the world, and how we leave the spaces and people with whom we interact.

It continues to be a time of ups and down, of change and shifting times. There's the promise of spring, or of autumn, depending on your place on the globe. Seasons of change in nature and seasons of change in all other aspects of life, as well.

As we drove on the long driveway, bounded by deep mounds of snow, leading into Colorado’s Vista Verde Ranch, I admired the pristine beauty of the dude ranch’s spectacular location, approximately 25 miles north of Steamboat Springs. I simultaneously began to wonder about the original settlers who were compelled to reside in this remote wilderness which is now surrounded mostly by the Routt National Forest.