The view from the hillside
How many layers do you see? Sky Meadows State Park, Virginia, Oct. 2024. On my family's annual "hike" at Sky Meadows State Park this past October, my 3-year-old decided he did not want to walk. Note my quotes around "hike." We are not talking rugged or taxing terrain. We're talking well-worn footpaths and a mild incline, with the greatest threat to our comfort and success being the still-warm cowpies cluttering the trail. This context meant nothing to my child. The minute we turned uphill, he wanted no parts of the adventure, which forced me to be the grownup—to balance carrying him for some intervals and leaving him to his own (whiny) devices for others. Permit him to be slow, I repeated to myself at each interval transition. Both of us need to learn we can survive it. I have struggled mightily this past year with discomfort and impatience. With a one-two punch of my parent's illness and the death of my friend , not to mention many other losses and str...
