today as diva dog & i took our usual walk in the woods, through the echo echo tunnel and around the coyote tree and Other Pond, i spied what appeared to be a cool piece of rusty metal. not one to pass up anything rusty, i picked it up. just then, the crows let out a full-on caw-fest right overhead, and i watched as they chased a hawk from "their" territory. when i looked down at the object in my hand, i saw it wasn't rusty metal, after all, but a vine that had wrapped around a twig. it got me thinking. this vine, in it's effort to bring life to itself, had bound itself so tightly to it's life-source that both had died. i know people like that. i have been a person like that. and it is such a struggle for either side to maintain a healthy boundary, that eventually someone has to walk away, or wither. and the relationship dies, just like the twig & the vine. Mighty trees have crashed onto our roof, brought down by seemingly innocuous creeping vines...their roots take hold, and aren't easy to remove. so this morning's walk brought me insight and gratitude on who i've become on my journey.