Rickety bridges and steep slopes

March 5, 2012 By 3 Comments

This weekend I celebrated my thirty-seventh birthday. Birthdays that fall on the weekend are the best kind of wonderful. Children make homemade gifts and do their best to behave, and husbands clean kitchens and bake knock-off Starbucks peppermint brownies. It so beats having a birthday on a Tuesday.

We crammed heaps of my favorite things into three days, one of which was a hike in the nearby forest. We started out under a cotton ball sky and walked down to a creek bed filled with ice and moss draped stones.
Even on the tail end of winter, with bare branches and dry leaves under foot, it was something special. Never mind that we started out with one child smacking M in the forehead with a full aluminum water bottle. Or that we had to dodge dog poo everywhere. Or that M thought it would be funny to step out onto a steel pipe running high above the creek bed and pretend to lose his balance. Like Celine says, my (timid) heart will go on.

This year has been one big hike after another. Great beauty in the midst of dodging heaping piles of poo. A few smacks to the head, but lungs filled to bursting with fresh air. A scare or two. But, overall it’s been one of movement, of life flowing fast between the crags of rocks and ice.

Forward movement. It’s not without fear or wrestling or heart stopping moments in which you’re scared you might lose your balance. I have and I will again. But, I find myself still seeking out the rickety bridges and steep slopes. And taking them slowly, one step at a time.

 
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Filed Under: Celebrating, Family Fun, Switzerland, Weekend Wanderings Tagged With: ,
  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/15545130837372429902 vmichelle

    That looks like a beautiful hike. Moss on stones is one of my favorite things that I don’t often find here in Texas.

    Happy Birthday to you! I too, share your state of 37 and while I’m hard-pressed to put an exact meaning to age, I find it is much sunnier than I had expected.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/05260565778393696918 Tara

    happy, happy birthday!! what a wonderful hike! beautiful pictures.

  • http://annkroeker.com Ann Kroeker

    Our birthdays must be fairly close…I’m a few years ahead of you on the hike, though. :)

    How lovely to have beautiful places to explore! Enjoy!