Up the incline
Here is a picture of Jackson, climbing up from the Big Falls area.
Notice the paper in his right hand. It is a list of items the boys were to look for over the course of the 1-plus mile hike—including maple leaf, animal tracks, walnut, etc. They were intensely focused on checking off every item, to the point that once we had returned from the hike and were back in the comforts of our own neighborhood, I found myself looking at leaves and thinking “I wonder if that one is on the list.”
Jackson made it to the trail before I did and he was watching me as I climbed back up. Once my feet slipped (it was wet and there were leaves everywhere), and I dropped to my knees, which, given the angle of the climb, was a minimal drop to say the least. (What I’m saying is that I was never in any danger.) When I made it to the top, Jackson came to me and said “Dad, when you slipped, I thought you were a goner.”
At least he'll never grow up and have to tell a therapist “I thought my Dad could do anything, and then he failed me…”
Up the incline
Here is a picture of Jackson, climbing up from the Big Falls area.
Notice the paper in his right hand. It is a list of items the boys were to look for over the course of the 1-plus mile hike—including maple leaf, animal tracks, walnut, etc. They were intensely focused on checking off every item, to the point that once we had returned from the hike and were back in the comforts of our own neighborhood, I found myself looking at leaves and thinking “I wonder if that one is on the list.”
Jackson made it to the trail before I did and he was watching me as I climbed back up. Once my feet slipped (it was wet and there were leaves everywhere), and I dropped to my knees, which, given the angle of the climb, was a minimal drop to say the least. (What I’m saying is that I was never in any danger.) When I made it to the top, Jackson came to me and said “Dad, when you slipped, I thought you were a goner.”
At least he'll never grow up and have to tell a therapist “I thought my Dad could do anything, and then he failed me…”