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| Happy Mother's Day to me! |
During our seven years in Colorado we used to hike a lot. There were many days where we would spontaneously decide to drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a walk in the woods. Being in the mountains fills me up. I feel alive and close to God.
I'm embarrassed to say that after nearly two years in California we had not yet been on a family hike in our local hills. My Mother's Day wish was to hike, and we did...well, kind of.
Hiking with preschoolers is much different than hiking with babies. When Sam was a young'un she was always attached to us by front carrier or hiking backpack and would therefore go where we went, and at the speed we set. At 4 years old, we decided Sam could walk on her own and Abby got the exciting bird's-eye view from the Kelty backpack.
I'm not exactly sure why I thought that Sam would just fall in line and march march march up the mountain next to us, but needless to say, that is not what happened.
It was only 1.4 miles to the top, but after .4 miles (POINT 4), 6 stops to look at the ants, and Sam's 20th fall/slip/tumble we decided we needed to turn around if we wanted to make it down by dark. Normally my little goal-oriented self would feel disappointed turning around so prematurely on a hike. But it is hard to feel disappointed when you...
- watch a four year old sing and slip her way down a trail with an enormous silly grin on her face
- or feel the one year old on your back waving her arms with pure joy
- or watch your dog leap into a creek
- or hold the hand of the man you love and have been hiking with for 10 years.
No, there is nothing disappointing about that.
It wasn't Rocky Mountain National Park, and it wasn't even a mile, but it was a hike, and I loved every minute of it.
