Hikes

After a balmy weekend the weather snapped back to chilly 

and I spent two days working up the courage to brave being cold.  

And it's not even that cold 

but somehow 40 degrees seemed intimidating.  

The only logical thing to do with such temperatures is stay inside and bake cookies.  And drink tea and read books.  

Unfortunately too much indoors plus too much pumpkin-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookie dough isn't a good combination for our clan.  And drinking tea and reading books (quietly to yourself) doesn't appeal to the dominent demographic.  And, honestly, I can only read "Llama Llama Learns to Share" patiently so many times.  

So today, in a fit of desperation (too dramatic?), Jon loaded us all in the car, drove up the road, dropped us off, and left for work.  

We had one of the best hikes ever.  I'm so thankful to live near long, meandering trails that can leave you feeling miles from neighborhoods, cars, piles of toys, unwashed dishes, bad attitudes.  It was what we needed.

How silly of me then, to reach a natural pausing point, a playground of logs and mini bridges and feel...rushed.  

Where   else   did   I   have   to   be?  

I had to fight the urge to hurry my little companions along.  The urge to say, "ok...only one more jump.  only one more restaurant hot-dog order.  only one more race across the bridge." 

Why? Was I trying to bring the grumpy back?  Did the four off-white walls of home seem suddenly super appealing?  

This is when I rely on the Holy Spirit to illuminate sanity.  To whisper "chill out for five minutes and let those children play forcryingoutloud." 

So we played.  And the longer we stayed the easier it was to   stay.