24 Hours of Adventure!

One thing I love about Mike is that he is often up for a quick adventure.  Yesterday we had a window of opportunity, 24 hours, to have an adventure.  So, we did!

We headed West... further West.  Our first stop was to Independence Rock. We've been there several times before and always enjoy the experience.  We like walking the trail around it and we like climbing up on top. This first photo was taken from the top.  Those are red ants on that rock!

 Independence Rock is such a unique place.  It has names pioneers scratched into the stone as they moved West!  Now, there is a highway nearby with truck after truck cruising by. Then, though, travel was a different story! Can you imagine travelling 5 months in this early RV?

OK, now is when you come to learn just how lazy I really am.  Instead of telling the story of Independence Rock myself, I took photos of the signs along the trail.

Another....

And one more...

I hope you can read those.  If not, here's the condensed version: People followed the trails (think Oregon and Mormon) for months. Getting across Wyoming could not have been easy. This huge rock was a landmark they looked for and it has a little stream nearby.  Many wrote/scratched their names into the rock and some of those names are still easy to see today.  We are allowed to climb up to the top and wander around.

It is a bit of exercise to get to the top, but so worth it for the view!

See, I told you their names are still visible!

 I like the little pools up on the top.

You must be very, very brave to get across the deep crevices!

OK, well, it seemed like a dangerous crevice at the time. 

Mike was laughing at me.

That wasn't very nice, was it?

The trail around the bottom was also beautiful. 

We could see lots of little cave like areas, formed from fallen rock.

We did not go in.

We have heard there are lots of rattlesnakes around there but 

decided we didn't need that much adventure.

We were only there for a short time, then it was time to move further West. 

As we drove along we enjoyed sparkling conversation. You may not know this about Mike but he is a great conversationist.  (My computer is telling me either that isn't a word or I am misspelling it. Oh well. It's my blog, I do what I want!)  After 37 years of marriage you might think we have run out of things to discuss.  Mike sees to it that we don't have that problem. He asks important questions like, "Do you think a sprinter would be frustrated on the moon?"

Where does he come up with this stuff?

What I Did and Didn't Know Then

Yesterday, as I was looking for photos of my little sister, I stumbled upon this photo of Mike and me when we were 18 years old.

I know, it's terrible quality.  You have to remember that waaaaaay back then, we were lucky to have enough film in a camera to take even a few photos.  I never took a whole roll at once so it remained in the camera, sometimes for months (years?).  THEN, it was sent off to somewhere like Seattle Filmworks.  Often, when that fat package returned with my prints, I had no idea what photos would be in there.  Usually, few or none were of good quality but nearly all were saved as they were the best we had to remember the pictured event.   

So, terrible quality or not, looking at this photo makes me happy.  It was taken our senior year of high school.  Mike and I had been dating for about a year at that time.  This was taken in the living room of the Christian Church parsonage in Turner, MT... my high school home.  The paintings on the wall were created by my mother.   The photo on the wall is my older brother, who at that time lived so far away we rarely got to see him.  Those striped chairs behind us had been reupholstered more than once by my talented mother.  I made my own prom dress and added that shawl that was a gift from my Grandma.  Mike looked especially cool in his blue polyester leisure suit.  We already knew we loved each other but we knew very little of what our future would hold.  Look at us, though.  Don't we look pleased with ourselves?  It was a happy night.

When I look at that photo, I clearly remember all the hope and excitement for the unknown future. I also remember being a bit nervous.  There is often a lot of pressure on high school seniors to have some things figured out.  How many times are seniors asked about their future plans... what path do they plan to follow?  It's kind of crazy, huh?

The evening that photo was taken, I thought I'd likely go to college to learn sign language as I prepared to teach deaf students.  As it turned out, that wasn't my path at all.  When that photo was taken I'd not yet realized that I really, really needed to be a nurse.  I didn't know anything about Mike's future as a pastor...absolutely no clue.  I didn't know that we'd have a daughter and two sons that would become more important to us than almost anything.  I didn't know Mike and I would someday live in the Seattle area, New Mexico, Wyoming and other places together.  I most certainly did not even consider being grandparents together and loving two precious little girls so much our hearts almost explode.  I had more happiness in my future than I was even able to imagine!

I also didn't know much about grief and loss.  I didn't know what it would be like to be a young wife trying to help a 20 year old husband deal with the loss of his Dad while taking over the responsibility of a farm all on his own.  I didn't know the anguish of miscarriage or the pain caused by learning someone I trusted was not trustworthy.  I didn't know about days when I'd only see Mike for 10 minutes because he was so busy helping other people.  I had a lot of challenges and sadness I'd not yet experienced.  I didn't know what it was like to have children in the hospital.  I had never worked so many hours straight that I was in tears by the time I went home. I didn't know what it was like to worry about household expenses, tuition, children in the hospital or any of those concerns of life.  Even though all of those things eventually molded me into a stronger person, I'm glad I didn't have to know about them ahead of time.

When that photo was taken I didn't know that someday I'd carry around a tiny computer/camera (smartphone) that would give me instant photos and that'd I'd post them for the whole world to see.  In fact, I didn't know that posts would be anything except something to hold up a fence.  I am certain I could not have imagined the power of the internet.  I thought I knew a lot back then, but there was so much more to come.  There were so many changes to embrace/endure.  There was so much adventure ahead!

Looking at the photo, though, I remember that I DID know that I was well-loved by my family, Mike and most importantly, by God.  I trusted that my future was secure because of that.  I still do.  I still look forward to more adventures.  I still feel blessed to have Mike by my side, just as I did in that photo.  I still know that I am loved.

North Carolina Adventure - Day 1

Last night Mike and I just returned from an extra long week-end trip.  Friday we went to Durham, North Carolina to see our oldest son and our daughter-in-law, Ben and Sara.  We'd never been to North Carolina so it was pretty exciting.  They've lived there for a year now so it was most definitely time to make the trip.

After our long flight it was fun to enjoy this nice leisurely walk with Ben and Sara through Duke Forest.  Yes, I am wearing a giant leaf in my hair.  Ben thought it appropriate for the adventure.

It was so wonderful to be able to go see them!   They live too far away but they are happy and busy.  You other parents know how hard it can be with grown kids.  You spend their childhood teaching them how to spread their wings but sometimes when they do that, they fly away!  Well, it is as it should be and we are happy for the opportunities they have encountered.

I'm so proud of Ben.  He's confident and smart and is making a nice life there with Sara.  I miss them but it felt so much better for me to be able to see where they live now.   Over and over I kept thinking how grateful I am that we live in a time when it is not beyond our reach to travel back and forth to see each other.  I thought of my great-grandparents who actually left North Carolina about a century ago and ended up in Wyoming.  I'm guessing that when they left they said good-bye to their relatives with very little hope of seeing them again.

There is a perk to having children live far away; we get to visit and learn about their surroundings.  This Southern orest felt much different than a forest in the Wyoming mountains.  It had it's own sort of beauty.  Much of Wyoming is prairie and we can see for miles and miles.  North Carolina has trees EVERYWHERE!  It was most definitely an adventure for us.

There were a lot of flowers growing wild.  Ben picked one for me, just as he used to do when he was a little boy.  Sweet, huh?

We had dinner at a little cafe with tables outside.  The evening was lovely.  We ended the day on the deck at their house, which is also nestled into the woods.  

What a pleasure it was to be there.

Recklessly Adventuresome

Last night as we were watching Cordelia play, Mike made a comment about how reckless Cordy is.  It's true!  On Saturday I had her over for quite awhile when her parents were painting in their new house.  It went very well but I had to catch her many times from hurting herself.  Then, just before their return, she decided to stand on one of the little plastic 1 cup size storage containers with which she was playing.  It turns out they really aren't good for that.  The plastic doo-hick-ee squirted out from under her feet backwards and she slammed forward to the floor right on her face!  I hate it when she is hurt!  Her parents arrived moments later to a teary-eyed girl who's upper lip looked like it might swell just in time for Easter pictures. 

Well, her face fared just fine and she looked adorable in her Easter dress from Grandma Carol.  To see the pictures to prove it, please go to Maria's post...  http://maria-rose.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-easter.html  You' can read about what a girly-girl she can be.  She loves jewelry and pretty dresses, even hats sometimes! 

Nevertheless, there is this other side to that little girl, the side that is always looking for adventure.  It reminds me of our son, Ben, when he was little.  We had two pretty cautious children but sandwiched in the middle was Ben, who was always busy trying to find more fun ways to do things! 

Cordy's Mom was one of our cautious kids and her husband, Eric, has good safety sense as well.  However, Cordy has a bit of her Uncle Ben's personality in the mix.  Poor Maria.  As a big sister she seemed to be "on duty" all the time in her frantic efforts to protect Ben from himself.  Now, she has her own little reckless personality to raise!  Well, at least she has practice as the protective one.

This photo was taken when we were at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  I was showing Cordy how to ride this little deal and then she showed me how she thought it could be used to have even more fun!

No motorcycles for you, young lady!