Scrambling in the Right Direction

I'm always waxing poetic nostalgia for the ocean, I know.  But there's something to be said for breathing space that comes by way of trees kissing the pale blue sky.  Something to be said for finding your breath and then inhaling and exhaling the majestic skyline, the one with snow-covered, silver-tipped mountain peaks.  A sea of its own.  From our home we look out at that sea daily.  However, it takes approximately two hours to pack up our gear and family and car.  Then it's another ninety minutes or so of incline and curving roads before we are pointed straight ahead, zooming in on a wall of silver covered with marshmallow white snow that takes up the entire view.  Instantly, you realize all the hoopla it took just to get there was totally worth it.

Still, to reach that sea is a project.  Which is why we usually hang close to home where the landscape is scrub and rock.  Where we gather up very little to take with us.  Where our little ones can manage a hike that's not overwhelming.  For usually about one hour - the highlight being resting for a snack - they become scramblers and wanderers.  I watch them with my mama-eyes of course, but mostly I breathe deeply and try to make sense of my problems, or on days like yesterday, I simply try not to think at all.

Last night at dinner, Theo asked if we could all hold hands and he'd say a blessing.  This is not a norm at our table but Eric and I looked at each other and said what we were both thinking out loud, "Sure!"  And he began...

Thank you for nature.  Thank you for rattle snakes and fruit twists.  God, I really love nature and so does my brother.  Even though we did not find my helmet today - you know, a wolf probably ate it our something {shrugs shoulders}, I thank you again for nature.  Amen."

Well, then.   I do believe as parents, scrambling daily no matter what the terrain, we're doing something right.


*On a recent hike, Theo took one of his Playmobil dudes along and lost his white helmet in the white snow - hence his helmet reference.  Oh, and tonight Sully has asked to bless us.  I'll let you know how that goes. ;)