Lessons Along the Trail

This weekend found me again along a trail in the Shenandoah Mountains. It may have been my last hike of the 2008 season as I'm not good on wet or icy rocks. Who knows what the rest of the weekends look like between now and spring. Which made me a bit more reflective as I walked.

What a wonderful season it has been, this was the first year that I included the kids on most of my hikes. It literally has been years that I've waited to do more than nature walks with them. Finally, this spring, I realized at 8 years old, my youngest had the endurance to handle not just the "easy" trails but the "moderately difficult" trails and a few "strenuous" ones if we took all day long and include lots and lots of breaks.

I wanted to not only share this pleasure with them as they are indeed my favorite people on the face of the earth but because I wanted them to learn certain things.

Appreciation and respect for nature is one of them. So many artists try to capture beauty and/or feelings evoked when in "God's Cathedral", whether it be with words or images. My little suburban dwelling children need that piece of the puzzle to fully understand what they are reading or gazing upon in a museum or art book.

And with the above also comes ecological responsibility and accountability. The concept of not disturbing what you are experiencing now makes sense.

Then there is the idea that accomplishment and success doesn't always come in the form of applause, trophies or any kind of prize. You don't need those to know you have achieved something sitting at the summit, looking DOWN at hawks soaring. You know you pushed yourself physically and mentally to get there.

Looking over at their faces quietly taking in the view, I can see the pride on their faces that they made it.

I've always had the mindset that if a kid has the capacity to ask a certain question, they have the capacity to hear the entire answer. Problem is that often I don't have time to properly answer it and/or take follow up questions. With two hours in the car and four-five hours on the trail, we covered a lot of subjects quite thoroughly the last seven months.

Probably the best lesson was one that I learned personally. And that is indeed, hiking does give me joy and peace. Like other known activities that make me happy, 2007 marked the first year I'd totally abandoned it. While I got to experience some very interesting new adventures and develop some beautiful friendships, overall, it was not a good year. This past year, I re-introduced to my life the activities/pursuits that had slowly made their way out of my life the last couple of years.

And I think I'm falling in love with my own life again. I know it sounds really corny, but often my mood is similar to the time the cutest boy in the school asked me to dance.