Getting Outside

Christmas break has meant a hike a day. Our normal family rhythm in the last year has been to hike once a week, usually Sunday afternoons. I cannot tell you how it resorts my head, makes me love my husband again, helps me see that the world is not all bad and totally shifts my pouty little boys from crankhead mode to blissful little outdoor explorers. Its been a really big shift for our family since we moved here to California.

New Year's is coming up and I love me some resolutions, some deep self analysis, some shift and some hard soul work....New Year's is my jam. January is my favorite. Love all that starting over-ness. Once upon a time, I was a lonely resolution maker with a husband who scoffed and thought I was lame and wouldn't have resolved to do anything if you blackmailed him to make him do it. He has totally changed his tune and now we resolve separately, together, silently, out-loud and help each other accomplish, review and remember our resolutions as the year progresses and as we look back on the last year.

One we picked this last year, in our new home state was weekly hikes. And we have been stuck with it. Here we find ourselves with vacation time and what are we doing with it? Hiking more than once a week....we're seriously out on trails for an hour+ every single day. I'm kind of amazed. It feels so good to be outside this much, to be active together, to see the beautiful stuff we are catching. Today when we hiked, we watched a coyote catch mice in a field, found elfin saddle mushrooms, and watched the sunset over the rolling green hills through a lattice of oak trees. The world is incredibly beautiful and it feels so wonderful to be united as a couple in our getting out there in it.

Here are some things to consider as I share our hiking victory:

• Our kids still complain....every single week. We just go anyway.
• Sometimes we go while having an argument or with hurt feelings between us as a pair.
• We have messed up and missed our hikes...we just boomerang back into the habit as soon as we can.
• It has never been a waste. Its always a total balm.

Get outside.