Hiking
-
Thomas Rock, Big Bay, Michigan
The oldest of the three children led the way. His legs, swift and confident, were full of the kind of energy that only children possess. The two toddlers, however, already exhausted from the day’s adventure, were levied up by their father’s pull and hoisted high onto shoulders for the ride up the mountain. It was afternoon now and the urgency for nap time sat heavy on the sweet faces as their parents’ feet forged on the pressed red sand of the path. The air is always different in the UP and as we reached the top of Thomas Rock, we collectively released our breath, letting out the stagnate energy within…
-
Perspective
I heard once that when a child turns two they are half the height they will grow to be as an adult. I look at my daughter, a summer away from turning two years old, standing beside a tree and I try to imagine her grown… her grown feet sharing my shoes, her hands no longer wrapped around my pointer finger for comfort, our conversations deeper than the three-word sentences she speaks today. At two years old, the world seems a very big place for her. Her perspective on life is formed by the constant craning of her neck. How large everything must seem when you are constantly looking up–…
-
The Woods
We let them wander in the woods alone. The trees are yet to blossom and so, although they think we cannot, we can see them as they venture further and further away, brave and curious, deep into the spirit wood. The pine trees seem larger than they were last spring, but perhaps it is only an illusion created by the small bodies beneath them. June is happiest on mornings like this: outdoors. Untamed and reckless, she mounts the hill and smiles back at me as I approach, daring me to catch her, which I do. And it is this way, together, holding hands that we descend the hill and at…
-
Three Years Later @ Pickerel Lake
Saturday morning came with sunshine, good coffee, and a wild baby racing through our home. Up and down she pulled herself, on to the record player, into the trash, onto the toilet seat (…ohhhh there is water in there, too?), up the first stair, around the kitchen table, down the hallway back to the stairs, across the living room to the plants and around the table to the couch where we sat, mystified by her energy. How many miles she crawled before eight o’clock is impossible to predict. But one thing was certain, we just couldn’t keep up. Not wanting to squelch her spirit with “No” this and “no” that,…
-
29 Favorite Moments of my 29th Year
1. Bringing Sweet June Bea home from the hospital and laying in own bed. My body ached and longed to be home! We laid together, this newborn, Sean and I, and savored the calm that was home. 2. Walking to the bakery to get doughnuts with Sean in my last weeks of pregnancy. Never has something tasted so sweet and wonderful. 3. Our first ultrasound, after I had a TON of jelly beans and our baby was flipping and dancing like a wild thing! 4. Early mornings spent writing and drinking coffee. I love the silence of our home in the morning when the only noise is the furnace is…