The unseasonably warm weather has been beckoning us outside. There’s nothing like a good tromp in the mud to squelch a case of spring fever, so I tied my shoes and Goose grabbed her foam sword and shield, a recent spur of the moment purchase she couldn’t live without.

“You’re not going to need those on our hike,” I suggested.

“But Mama, what if we see a dragon? I’ll go first and keep us safe,” she replied.

Good point. I gave in and ushered her out the door with her medieval weaponry, and we set out to find some sunshine and slay some imaginary dragons up Junction Creek.

As we hiked along the trail, my eyes focused on the ground squishing and sucking at my feet, daring me to fall while Goose was focused up, not affected by the mud at all.

“Look,” she hollered, pointing her sword to the sky, “it’s a dragon!”

And she was undeniably right. In all of its cotton candy glory, a fire-breathing dragon drifted lazily above.

My swashbuckling sidekick ran bravely ahead, sword in the air, flailing wildly in her attempt to save us both from certain fire-breathing death. Thankfully she had the insight to not only pack fruit snacks and chocolate milk but also her armament, which was needed after all!

But, before she could rid the sky of the cumulous beast, the cloud rearranged and turned into a much less threatening, if not adorable, bunny.

Ever willing to teach my tiny explorer a lesson through Mother Nature, we took a moment and sat on a rock, leaning back with a wide-open view of the cloud-filled sky for a moment and watched as the menagerie of animals shape shifted in the wind, an ever-changing masquerade of imagination above.

Goose watched, mesmerized by the clouds capability to change without hesitation.

“How is that possible?” she asked sheathing her sword.

I explained to her that the wind blows the clouds and our imagination gets to see the wind at work. I want Goose to understand that the clouds are like our thoughts and that the wind is like our breath, it can allow us to change our thoughts.

I want to teach Goose to learn use her breath to center herself and her thoughts. Just as the wind moves the clouds across the sky, I want Goose to learn to use her breath to move thoughts across her mind.

“Oh no, another dragon,” she covered her eyes with her hands.

“Open your eyes,” I told her. “Take a deep breath and look at the dragon and watch it.”

Before long, the dragon was a unicorn.

“The clouds,” I told her, “are like your thoughts, if you disregard the ones you are fearful of you’ll miss out on seeing dragons turn into unicorns.” Sometimes when something seems scary or unimaginable taking a deep breath allows for a pause that can rearrange your perspective.

As we sat there in the quiet, I took the opportunity to let my thoughts drift across my mind like the clouds in the sky. I often find that in the midst of taking the opportunities to teach Goose life’s lessons, I too learn something in the process about myself.

You see, amidst the clouds in the wild blue yonder of my mind, I too have a dragon, and I never look at it long enough to allow it to change shape. Perhaps it’s because I am afraid of the dragon, perhaps because I am afraid of the change. But somehow today, it felt safe. With my sword brandishing dragon slayer at my side, I looked at the dragon long enough to see it change.

As we crossed the bridge over the creek and made our way back to the car, I watched as Goose looked up to the sky, and, in that celestial moment, I made a wish on a star shaped cloud that she will keep some of the fearless strength that allows her to slay dragons and that I can be the wind that blows through her conscious that helps to shape her sky.

Jenny Johnston can be reached at jennyandgooseoutdoors@outlook.com