The blog post I had planned to write today was alive in my head but hadn't yet come out onto this here screen. I intended to get to it this afternoon, but alas, life.

Realizing I was running out of time, I thought about how I'll write it in the morning and just apologize for it being late. Apologize to who, Jenn? Your arbitrary standard?

So then I decided to just throw up a quick post basically saying why I wouldn't have a post today. And that's when my fingers found their way here.

As I started to type, I felt yet another level of release and surrender that was full of invitation to honor this day AS the post.

It's good enough. It has to be - this is life in the present moment. There are no errors. The blog post about "Latent" wasn't meant to happen because it didn't.

You see, today was supposed to be about hair color, nail polish, and homemade mac and cheese. A day of preparation for tonight's gathering, all mapped out in my mind with the precision of my former city-dwelling self. But life - beautiful, unpredictable life - had other plans.

I had planned a trip to the River's Edge - it's what I do without fail every morning. But I had a plan to only be there an hour. As life would have it however, Finn decided to just lie down in the open field in the most glorious period of reflection facing the mountains.

It was so gorgeous and peaceful and intentional - I couldn't interrupt him. I just stood back and watched him watching the beauty in front of us both. It actually gave me the moment to stop and snap this photo of one of those views I always see through the lens of a 3x5. 

His adorable reverence and lying position on the grass became just the spectacle that would attract conversation with a woman I've seen walking many times before. Today we chatted. It was so lovely. So kindred. We talked bone density and alkaline diets. We talked medicine and the body's intelligence to heal itself. It was brief but powerful.

Then came the gentleman in his seventies who looked like the most perfect replication of Peter Cetera. Crystal blue eyes and the perfect coiff of silver hair, I had never seen him before but I was very much drawn to him. He was to us as well (probably mostly Finn though).

In the next hour of shared footsteps and words, he saw me with the kind of clarity that takes my breath away. "You're here to make a difference Jenn. I know that and I don't know you. But I KNOW you." Earth angels appear in the most unexpected moments, don't they?

And now, here I am, realizing the grocery store forgot my flour - that essential ingredient for the perfect mac and cheese roux. My gathering host offered solutions, including the option to abandon ship entirely. But somehow, the idea of making it there and creating the dish on-site feels right. Because that's what this Montana Musings A-Z journey is teaching me - to flow with life rather than against it.

So yes, this blog post was going to be late when I was stubbornly holding onto my original plan. But the moment I surrendered to letting the post simply be what it needed to be - a reflection of this beautifully messy day - it became exactly what it was meant to be all along.

Life is getting more and more magical through each day of this Montana adventure. And by life, I'm talking about the stuff we can't plan for or imagine.

The conversations that feed our souls more than any perfectly colored hair could satisfy. The connections that make us forget about unchipped nail polish.

The ways in which our plans dissolving can lead to something far more authentic.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to run so I'm not late to my gathering. Although if I were to be, I'd be late because of life. And that's not late at all.