Enjoy The Journey: out and about in April

(I wrote this over a week ago, better post before it's June!)

Here are some of our April happenings:

Escalante day trip. I didn’t make it this time but this is how it went down: Jeff, Erik, Claire and Megan left at 5:00am (George/ 3 of his children and Lincoln/son also went). They stopped around 8:30am for a big breakfast at a small town café then drove to the trailhead on ‘Hole in the Rock Road.’ Their little group hiked the slot canyons, Spooky and Peek-A-Boo. They had packed a lunch and then stopped for dinner on the way home. The minivan, covered in the red dirt of Southern Utah, pulled back in the driveway around 10:00pm!

Jeff

Claire and kids. Megan said "I LOVED that hike. It was so fun to climb and slide."

Skiing at Brighton. Even though everyone but me was going to be skiing I was content to go and watch from out of the big windows in the lodge. As a parent I find it rewarding when my children embrace something I love and this is the case for skiing. It is an activity all 3 enjoy doing with their dad and Grandma LaKay. My mother-in-law has been a ski instructor for over 20 years and she’s been able to give lesson time to Erik and Claire, and this year Megan received her first lessons.

At the end of the day as we were heading to the parking lot I paused and looked at the ski lift called ‘Milly’ and the runs coming off it. Jeff asked if I was okay. Surprised by his question I said, “Yeah. Why?” Jeff said, “You were biting your lower lip.” Oh… I hadn’t realized I was. Darn it. Even as a grown woman I will sometimes bite my lower lip as a tactic to keep my emotions in check.

The day had been great, but in staring up at that big snowy mountain my body could remember exactly how it felt to ski (and fall) down those runs. All day long I had been repeating to myself how great it was to get out. Now I felt like the Band-Aid had been ripped off and I admitted to myself how, despite the positive self-talk, being on the sidelines just can't compare to the adrenaline rush of being on skis. It has been a few weeks and that raw emotion has settled down and I am back to the “Oh well. It is was it is.”

And since my health "is what it is" I'm going to make the best of it.

Just saying… each day really is a gift from God.