It is how we enjoy nature at a slow pace and let our minds unwind. It is how we connect, shoulder to shoulder, and we build endurance, physical and mental. I love the girls resilience and positive attitude even when it’s ridiculously hard to continue to put one foot in front of another.
Conrad longs to be in nature. This year I gave him my blessing to go hike every change he gets and not wait for us to be in the mood. So he did. But this long weekend we built anticipation and prepared well enough to take to the trails.
This was a hard hike. I packed too much in my prop[er hiking backpack. I should have shared the load. Such a good metaphor for how I handle life. I had extra water for the girls, which they needed. I had all the apples, the sandwiches and the sweet snacks. Each girl carried a half a litter of water and their raincoats. The first climb was a doozy. My heart was pumping like crazy, my legs were noodles, and my shoulders felt pressed on the wrong way. We took many breaks and the girls were just ahead. Conrad was kind and encouraging. But I was annoyed at him pointing out flowers when I could barely breathe properly. “Mami, Look!” Is a phrase that triggers me still. More than “but why?”
I’m in my head, trying to find my balance and the calls to look, to focus on something outside my scope, it rattles my brain. I told Conrad I don’t want to see any flower. To let me be. The flowers he is pointing, small and lost in the sea of other flowers, I don’t know why it takes so much energy out of me to try to focus.
After this first 20 minutes I found my rhythm and the girls were still ahead chatting. Jackie said she didn’t want to be there. She would prefer to be home. Where she would be bored, or listening to music. She didn’t insist. Ivy dint complain at all. Then we kept on keeping on, had a snack, drank water, rested a few times. Took in the vistas. Let some marathon runners pass us and we watched their light load zoom by. I felt no pangs of envy or anything. I was neutral to these people running ahead and saying hi. 45 km it turns out and my friend Debi won the marathon. Obviously she was long gone off that trail by the time the tens of people kept passing by us.
Then Conrad made a ton of jokes and we all laughed out loud to his silly comments, and implied silliness. Once we got to the top we realized the rain was imminent and we had another 6 km to go. A full circle. The views were incredible and we sped up the pace. I was ahead with there girls and we chatted our mouths to our heart’s delight.
As we got in the car it started raining. Hard. We felt so lucky to not get wet at all. Apparently the storm passed by our neighborhood as well. It stretched everything but we were safe and dry in the car on the way home. Satisfied and sore. I got an aspirin to relax my aching muscles and I cooked dinner and we watched a movie. What a glorious weekend to be tired from hiking together and to have shared and made memories together. With our nearly teenage daughters. May they share many such outing with us.
