Cigar smoke and a shot of vodka. Fever and headaches. Too many late nights and days that have been too short. Every project one-quarter complete and the rain arrives again. Conflicting schedules, it's scary how time is flying by. Reverting back to email, I miss the IM. A surprise lovely orange drink at my front door and the sounds of spring darkness outside. What a crazy week it's been.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
When Best Laid Plans Go Awry
A few weeks ago, I was asked what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. Without hesitation I said, "Let's go hiking." It's one of my favorite ways to spend a weekend and it's something we never seem to have time for. So, needless to say, I wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that today was supposed to be cold and rainy. I tried to come up with a Plan B. We talked about the movies and bowling, hanging out at home and sleeping late, things that were OK but not exactly what I wanted. As of this morning, we still hadn't decided what we were going to do today.
I woke up this morning to the smell of french toast cooking and a little voice in my ear asking what time I wanted my breakfast. We lounged in our pj's until noon, snuggling and wrestling around in the living room, squishing all 4 of us into one chair. A perfect morning filled with lots of giggling. Finally, at 12:30 I decided that I just couldn't shake the hiking urge. I wanted to get outside, I wanted to get moving, I wanted to go up on the Drive. So, we bundled up and headed out. There was no rain and no wind, it was just chilly. Winding our way up toward Big Meadows the fog decended on the mountain, thrilling Liv to no end. But as we reached our destination, we burst through the clouds and looked up. The sky was blue! The sun was shining! The wind, however, was fierce and the temperature was 45 degrees. A big difference from the beautiful high 70's we've had lately. We picked an easy hike (in case we needed to run quickly back to the car), only 2 miles and flat. Easy. And, it's a good thing because quickly the wind blew the fog back in and the forest was amazing. The fog muffled every sound. Everything looked misty and soft. The greens seemed even greener. The yellow wildflowers against the grey stone walls looked like little rays of light in the cloudy cold fog. We were alone on our trail and visibility limited us to viewing only what was directly around us. It was perfect. But misty. Very, very misty. About a mile into the hike, we were starting to get pretty wet. The four of us, pink cheeked, wet jeaned, and grinning couldn't stop laughing at how damp we were. And, at exactly halfway through the trail, there was no way to turn back. The sprinkles started...a light but sharp rain that felt like sleet at times as we jogged back to the car, barely able to breathe from the constant giggling at the way we all looked. Drowned rats? You bet. Finally, we hit the car, jumped in and cranked the heat all the way up. And, then, thank God for my impeccable timing...the hail started and the sky opened up. Torrential rain, ice pinging the side of the car and us, warm and drying, happy and tired, heading home.
The plan had been to hit the showers, change and head to dinner at the local Indian restaurant. But, halfway home we decided that chinese food in nice dry pj's, sitting on the living room floor, watching a movie was a better way to end the day. And you know what? It was a good decision. So the day didn't work out as planned and I ended up cold and wet and without any green masala chicken and naan in my belly. I liked it way better this way. The adventure of hiking in the fog and rain, the warmth of home, snuggling with my two favorite kids - I wouldn't have changed a thing.
Happy Mother's Day.
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