Plant Your Feet. Just Keep Going. Mighty Blessed.

The day started out simple enough.

Didn't realize it was going to be one of those days where I build a memory that I'll reflect back on - once again - hello growth.

A quick morning of caching - meeting Jake to get a gifted trout fillet - a quick peek at a local disc golf course - stop by a local shop to purchase a few discs.

Then I decided to run to Echo Lane Trailhead and geocache a bit more. The bike trails there are amazing and I was tickled to see so many people out. My third cache in, I looked up at what I'm calling Echo Peak and the following happened:

"I wonder if I could get to the top of that?"
"Do you want to?"
"Yes."
"Then you can."

Just like that - my internal conversation settled the matter. So I surveyed the scene and realized the south climb would be easiest - so I followed a bike trail until I realized that none of the bike trails were going as high as I wanted.

"What are you going to do?"
Surveyed the side of the hill - "Go up."

And so I got off the paths and started my climb. Up.

"Hey - this is really rocky and there are no trails. You sure about this?"
... "Yup - get to the top."

I found myself reflecting upon a relationship from a year past - he was a mountain climber and quite the adventurer. He talked me into trying paddleboarding for the first time, hiking the back trails of Yellowstone, and talked me through climbing a couple of situations and I could hear him today saying, "Plant your foot. Use your legs." So that's what I did, I planted my foot, used my legs and kept climbing.

"You don't know where you're going."
"True. That means I just need to keep going."
"What if you fall?"
"You're not going to fall. You're going to plant your foot and then do it again. What do you want to do?
"Get to the top."
"Well, get to the top."

I got to the first "ridge" area of the climb and looked down across the valleys and trails, "You know, this is pretty high - the rest of the climb looks a lot more steep and more rocky."
"Is it the top?"
"Nope."
"Wanna?"
"Yep."

Each path I surveyed before I decide upon the next steps for up. Lots of internal conversation - like, "Why didn't you bring your walking stick?" "Hey, at least you grabbed your backpack and water."

A few times I had to backtrack for an area where I felt that I would be a little more sure-footed. Closer and closer I was getting to the top and I was getting excited about it. Looked up and there was a hawk hanging around. "Hey, Hawk, I'm coming your way."

Very close to the top, I stopped because I realized I had not put sunscreen on. As I recently told Athena, my many days outside last Summer has permanently changed my perfectly white milky skin a different color. "I used to be the color of cream." She responded, "Well, now you're more of a creme' brulee." I still chuckle at that.

So I parked under some shade, pulled out my water, some nuts and dried fruit - listened to the birds - sat in the lotus position and took deep breaths. Then covered bits of me with sunscreen. I looked down at my pack and chuckled at its contents - I took a picture to share below. Now before you knock the Evian spray - that stuff is awesome. If you're hot, it'll cool you down. If your face feels dry - it's so great. I was looking down at my stuff thinking how blessed I was to have people who have taught me to be prepared. I was just feeling really, really blessed.

And I started up the rest of the way - to get as close to the top as I could.

And I did. And it was awesome.

Now here's the funny part - and the part that made me realize what I did today was such a reflection of my entire life.

The climb down. Lord knows I can't just go back the way I got there - I needed to go down the front.

"This is really, really, really steep. And dumb."
"No - it's steep - but go slow."
"You don't know where you're going."
"True, but I know I'm going West and down and this is West and down."
"If you fall ..."
"Not gonna fall."

Plant your foot. Look around - be fearless.

There was a point in the down-trek that reminded me of the rock in Lion King. Not gonna lie - I totally started singing "THE CIRCLE OF LIFE" - really loud. Like - REALLY loud. And then got so tickled at myself I was bent over laughing.

"Simone - this is not that funny."
"Oh, yes it is!"

Here's the deal. I did not know where I was going - I did not know if I was going the right way - I didn't know how in the world I was going to get down. I did know I was going. I was going up. I was going to go back down. The path wasn't as important as knowing that it was going to happen and knowing it was going to be okay.

That's been the best part of my life - from childhood, motherhood, wife, employee, sister, friend - I am not good at taking the path I'm supposed to take. I just know it's always going to be okay - and if I allow myself to pause in this life - I get to really enjoy and reflect upon the blessings of living.

It's amazing.

My wish for you is you do things out of your comfort zone. Go up. Talk yourself into things that seem careless - and do it. Live.