Nothing is simple
A friend of mine is involved in a themed blogging even, topic “Simplicity” and it just so happens that it fit so well with what I was already considering writing here anyhow. Here’s my story…
On Saturday, My sister, Daddy and I took K and A snowshoeing. We have always been very active participants in winter sports and it has been more than a little complicated trying to do things like downhill or nordic ski or snowshoe since my children were born. So, as we drove past the perfect conditions on the ski slopes while drooling on our way to the snowshow trail, we embarked on many hours of unbelievable strenuous work to go perhaps half a mile. Here’s how it went down…
Leave the house at 10 am and drive 30 minutes to the Cascades. Get two toddlers in snowsuits as it was just 24 degrees out. Put the 20 month old in a backpack and get the 3 year old on her own snowshoes. Grab sleds in case of sledding opportunity. After 30 minutes 3 year old wants to get in the other backpack which we of course always carry along. Get snowshoes off, put her in backpack, walk 50 yards, she wants down. She’s almost perfectly contect to run on the packed train, except when she wants to test the depth of the snow…very deep…and always in the boots and up the snowpants and very cold, but fun that must be repeated many times. Then, K decides she needs to go poopie. Oh yes, I kid you not. So we unzip the jacket, pull down the snowpants, fleece, thermals and underwear, I have the paper ready to go and a nice deep hole dug in the snow (K’s first “natural” toilet and I had to make it good), I hold her over the snow-potty for a good 2-3 minutes at great pains to my lower back and we have….nothing! Not even a trace of yellow snow for my efforts. We reassemble and move on. We finally get to a sledding place and go sledding down a very bumpy, curvy hill. A gets a face full of snow and doesn’t stop crying until we are back at the car, but K says, “I want to do it again!” though we both have a face full of snow and snow up the snowpants. So we “do it again” 3 more times until Daddy can’t take A’s crying anymore. We hike the quarter mile back to the car and it takes us 1 HOUR to get de-geared and situated. Snow suits off, hot chocolate in the kids, gear stowed and everyone content. Drive back home and arrive at 4 pm.
This story sums up just about everything in my life these days. Nothing is simple and I miss the freedom to pursue my own interests (and skiing!) more than I can express without feeling terrible guilt and everything is unbelievably hard work. I don’t want to wish away my children’s early years and love so much about this time, but boy am I ready for them to be big enough to join me in particpating in the things that I love to do. It sure would be nice to snowshoe more than a couple of yards again someday.
But, to sum it all up, 6 hours of snow and cold and constant work…exhausting. Seeing K’s exultant face as she climbs up a huge mound of 7 foot deep snow without sinking during her first time on snowhoes, priceless. Yes, we’ll do it all again on another weekend real soon!
