Step-by-step

Today I climbed Grey Rock with Peanut. Well, most of Grey Rock. I confess that I didn't make it quite all the way up. I was darn close, but the sky was getting gray and the wind was getting strong, and I was concerned about the unblocked wind on the summit and its effects my little 10-pound companion. Plus I was tired. (I'd say dog-tired, but Peanut was trucking along no problem from start to finish...)

Dan and I climbed Grey Rock once. We thought we made it to the summit, so we had a snack and turned around. Then when we got back down and saw the map, we thought there was just a little more and we hadn't quite made it. So I was using that as a guide of how long today's hike would take. Just a little longer.

Wrong. Turns out the trail we were hiking takes you up to a high point of one section of the mountain, then back down, through a meadow, and up the real peak. So what we thought was the second trail joining up with the first was actually the descent to the meadow. Oopsies.

All this to say, today's hike took a lot more time and energy than I expected. And when I got to the part where I decided to turn around, I was wishing for a helicopter to come whisk me back to my red armchair. I thought I'd be done around 2; I turned around at 1:50. So I was ready to be done but had a long descent in front of me.

For a while all I could think about was being in my red chair. But that was depressing me, so I thought about the milestones ahead. Reaching my car. And when that got depressing, reaching the point where the two paths split. But ultimately my problem was that I kept trying to guess how far along the path I was. Was I half way yet? And since I had no pedometer or altimeter or any other-meter device to tell me that, it was frustrating when I'd realize time was passing and I hadn't reached any of my milestones yet. And my legs were sore, my back was tired, and my toes felt like they were swollen and bleeding (they weren't). And I had to pee a little bit.

That's when I decided to change my focus. I decided to just keep thinking about putting one foot in front of the other. Because if I did that enough, I'd eventually get to my milestones and be in my red chair. But in the mean time, I'd enjoy the journey more. And it worked! The hike from there was less painful and just easier.

That's what faith is about. So often I try to write my own story. I focus on my next major milestone or where I want to end up, and try to think about how soon it might come. But sometimes I need to slow down, enjoy the journey, and just focus on taking the next step. Because as clueless as I was to how far I was on that path, I'm even more clueless when it comes to my future. I don't even know what the milestones will be, much less when they'll happen.

That's the summit, or pretty close to it. I didn't zoom or anything. I was so close!!