Changing Seasons

Remember me?

I’m shocked to discover it’s been over 4 months since I was last here sharing my thoughts with you. Time flies when you’re hiding at home during a pandemic.

I haven’t been doing anything particularly special, but every weekend I continue to hit the trails with son #2. It’s been a little bit of normal in a life that’s felt anything but normal over the past year.

It was a decent winter here in the land of seemingly perpetual lockdown – not too cold, and not too much snow – but March was most extraordinary. I don’t recall a previous March when we didn’t have at least one snowstorm.

This year – nada.

It’s a miracle, I say.

The escarpment at Mount Nemo is 900 feet (274 metres) high. Ice grippers were definitely a requirement if one expected to stay on top of the escarpment!

Ummm – I don’t really want to climb down the slippery rock to join you. Let’s turn around here.

Normally a temperamental month, this year March sent us teasingly-mild temperatures and the welcome promise of an early spring.

Knowing how to dress for spring hiking can be a bit confusing.

Bye-bye ice grippers. Your work is now done for another year.

On mornings when I would rather have stayed in bed, I dragged my reluctant body out the door for what was always a welcome dose of forest therapy.

Fresh air, trees, and good company are priceless. However, the pandemic forced a change in hiking company, and while I’ve spent the past 8 years hiking with peers, the hours spent with my youngest offspring have been quite different.

For one thing, I discovered that the little boy, who once loved to climb anything and everything, is now a grown man who still loves to climb everything and anything.

… but the biggest revelation of all has been what I’ve learned about parenthood.

We spend years trying to guide our children into adulthood, only to discover one day that the tables are turning and our children are now starting to teach us … offering us insights and perspectives we hadn’t considered.

Yes, the seasons are changing – in more ways than one.

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This post was inspired by the monthly photo challenge called Changing Seasons hosted by Su Leslie at Zimmerbitch.