The Truth About My Happy Hike Photos

 

I posted some photos on social media this week that weren't portraying 100% of the truth. The photos I shared showed only beauty and happiness and left out one major detail of the day: the struggle. I feel that so many times that's the case with social media postings, and all too often I fall guilty of this giving the excuse "I just want to archive the happy memories". But this time, I've been feeling that the beauty of this particular moment was in the struggle. So here it is.

This past Monday a unique opportunity presented itself to me. I found myself at home with my oldest, Sophia, on what was probably the most beautiful fall day we've had all year. The fall leaves were bright and bold in red gold and green, the sun was beaming down without a single cloud in the sky, the temperatures were flirting with 80 degrees and there was a cool breeze in the air. Now, Sophia's brother and sister were both out of the house until 3:00pm and the plan was for me to do errands and Sophia do her school, but this opportunity of a day just seemed to be screaming at me! So with a little encouragement from my husband, I let Sophia "play hooky"for the day to join me on an adventure up the North Shore to hike a gorgeous trail called Bean and Bear lake. I hiked this trail one time before when I was dating Andy and I remember we had the most spectacular time, and I was excited to recreate this fun experience with Sophia. I put her in the car without telling her where we were going, mobile ordered us two pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, and drove her up the North Shore to Silver Bay where the trail head begins. Sophia was super surprised and excited at the spontaneous opportunity and trusted me when I said it was going to be a fun and easy hike. 

Now I didn't quite remember how long the trail was and kind of miscalculated the easiness of the hike forgetting that when I did it in the past I was 23 and in the best shape of my life. But from my memory and the looks of the map, it appeared to be about a light 6 mile hike, so I figured we'd be through the loop in about two hours or so and then grab lunch on our way home. I was wrong. The hike was long. Super long. Seven plus miles long. And it was hard. It had lots of uphill climbs and downhill traversing and the sun got super hot and we didn't bring enough water or food and we both felt defeated earlier than half way through the hike. We were miserable. But, being the determined mother I am, I wasn't going to let our surprise hooky day turn into a flop. So I did my best to keep us going. Songs. Games. You name it. I tried it. But we were defeated. My legs got wobbly and my stomach started grumbling and at times it felt like the heat was sucking the life out of me, and I kid you not, it was the most precious thing that's ever happened to me. It was heaven. 

Sophia is eleven now and just entered middle school. She's slowly turning into a creature I hardly even recognize and sometimes it really scares me that it seems like I don't even know who she is any more. She gets zits and likes boys and listens to weird music and has this huge enormous attitude. And that cute little curly haired girl with the raspy voice who used smell her buttons is no where in sight. So being stuck on a four plus hour seven mile hike in the middle of the forest with Sophia was pure heaven. We talked. A lot. We talked about everything from the dangers of smoking to our favorite clothes to wear to things I used to do after school when I was in 6th grade and even ways I used to get in trouble. She asked me many real-life questions including whether or not Santa and the tooth fairy are real. And I told her the truth. We bonded and shared and completely reconnected and to me it was the best time I've had in a long, long while. And then at the end of the hike when our feet were dirty and sore we plopped ourselves back in the car and blasted the air conditioning and settled in for our hour long drive home. And before long Sophia fell asleep. And there we drove all the way home just me and my first born daughter sleeping next to me. And I could see her again. My little girl. She's still in there. She's just a little older now. And so I got to thinking that maybe as Sophia is on the edge of her adolecense, the hike ahead of her is going to have a lot of steep climbs. And downhill traversing. And maybe even some falls. And she's going to have to work hard to get to where she's going, but I will be right there along side her ready for her to share her journey with me. And just like the beautiful colored leaves we were gawking at, Sophia will change with the seasons of her life, but she will always be my little girl.