“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on!” – Sheryl Sandberg
I know that I post a lot of Mt. Rainier pictures as my featured pictures. But I love the seasonal differences on our mountain that are evident even 60 miles away. Like this one taken at sunset this week (left) and you can see the full coat of snow that she has compared to when she’s melted out after a hot summer (right picture taken last August). Mt. Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the lower 48 of the US with 28 major glaciers. But the “snowiness” of the mountain still changes a lot.
A tryptech of my duo.
Young life…
Around the neighborhood. Not mentioning the sign because I didn’t read it.
“In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with.” – Charles Schulz
One of the many things I love about living in Seattle is that Mt Rainier looms up from so many different angles just driving down the freeway. (photo credit to Miss O)
This bull frog was the wildlife we saw when we went on a lovely hike with Deb (Closer to the Edge blog and my wonderful colleague on the Heart of the Matter blog). It was too hot for the wildlife — and maybe for us. But still so fun to hang out with the amazing and fun Deb again!
The slide started out so well…
I took the kids to their first ballgame. I’m not sure what Mr. D was doing – catching flies? Ba-dum-dum. I’ll be here all week folks.. 🙂
Guess who learned to blow bubbles? It is amazing how entertaining that is…
Mr. D says cleaning the grill is equally as entertaining.
“If peace comes from seeing the whole, then misery stems from a loss of perspective.” – Mark Nepo
It’s probably not shocking to admit that the most beloved people in my lives, a.k.a my kids, can sometimes irritate me. The other day, my 6-year-old daughter walked by me as I was sitting at the table and used the back of my shirt as a napkin for her buttery popcorn hands. And the little one loves to get his hands on my dental floss – and pull and pull and pull until there’s a long trail behind him sufficient to find Hansel and Gretel.
But all it takes is one look at them earnestly trying to learn something, or one comment from someone else about how precious they are and my eyes leak as my heart overfills.
One of the best pieces of advice about love that I’ve heard about love is when feeling the grind of it, to back up and see the whole mountain. Maybe my love of mountains makes this resonate especially with me but it brings to mind some of the toughest spots I’ve faced in climbing.
One of my least favorites is called Cathedral Gap on Mt. Rainier. It’s right next to Cadaver Gap, which because it’s aptly named, is NOT the route we take. But Cathedral Gap, despite its lovely name is grueling. It’s right after you’ve left Camp Muir at 10,200 feet and the first time that rope teams and crampons are required. Often the route is quite pebbly in spots and the mud and muck get jammed between the points of the crampons designed to help grip in snow and ice. When that happens then with each step you have to bang your foot against your ice axe to clear the debris.
The combination of being roped up, coordinating the pace with those on the team all the while climbing, banging your foot with your axe and breathing undoes me. It isn’t that climbing the rest of the mountain is easy but that particular part of the route (approximately located where the yellow arrow is on the picture below) I find to be grating.
And yet, when I see Mt. Rainier as I do every sunny day in Seattle, it gives me such a thrill. Just a glimpse of The Mountain, as my dad called it, and I’m filled with a tingle of the timeless beauty, daunting majesty and feeling of home it gives me. I feel this overwhelming sense of hope that we can all know beauty and dignity and stand tall against the test of time.
And it’s the same with my kids. There is a particular expression they both have that show when they are feeling confident about something they’ve learned. One glimpse of their little faces and I’ve come home – to my love and my life.
Surprised By Joy 