Trail Blazing

187 Marbles

    My kids are still off with their Dad so I decided to take advantage of the free time and plan another outing.  My niece  (think forty-year-old) and I hopped in my car and headed to a lake an hour out of town.  When we arrived, we found trails around the lake and we thought it would be nice to go for a walk before our swim.      
    We started off wearing our flip flops as the trail looked pretty groomed and easy.  As we headed away from the lake, the trail got denser and less easily navigated.  My niece noticed the huckleberry bushes loaded with berries and started asking questions about bears.  I assured her that there was no need to worry about bears.  We were in the mountains, near a lake, with lots of berries.  Besides, don’t bears hibernate in the – the -  summer? 
    We trudged forward and the trail vanished into the overgrown brush.  My niece suggested we go back, but I told her that this was all part of the adventure.  She and I could have taken the easy path, but we took the road less traveled and now we just had to find which way to go.
    We worked our way through the undergrowth to find the suggestion of a  trail and breathed a sigh of relief.  Surely it would be smooth trailing from then on but it wasn’t.  For the next hour and a bit we found and lost the trail several times (cutbacks in the parks department’s budget?)  We climbed gigantic rocks, experienced false starts and wrong turns and all in flip flops. Finally, about two and a half hours after starting our “little” walk around the lake, we found ourselves back in civilization – the parking lot.  We were ready for a swim. 
    After a quick dip in the cool mountain lake we lay on the rocks basking in the nearly setting sun.  My legs were still sore from my hike up the Chief but I felt good.  My niece asked the woman next to us if there were bears in the area.  “Sure,” she answered, “But don’t worry, they don’t usually come right around the lake.” My niece looked at me and I smiled a guilty smile. 

Have you noticed that your life has become less about your past life in your relationship and more completely yours (with or without children)?  You have been given a type of freedom… what are you going to do with it?