December 22, 2009

When we moved to Colorado, we anticipated celebrating our first white Christmas. No snow fell that year - I think the temperature was in the 50s. As a new hire at the newspaper, I "volunteered" to work on New Year's Eve. There are no days off for the news. The next year, I said I would work on Christmas Eve. Why not? I already was supposed to work on Christmas Eve day. That year, there was a historic blizzard and we got snowed into our house in Monument (just north of Colorado Springs). The snow blanketed our VW bug - we only had a one-car garage - and drifted up to the bottom of our roof. I couldn't make it into work that Christmas Eve, our friends couldn't share Christmas dinner with us. In fact, we didn't go anywhere for a few days, but were the first car following the snow plow up our dirt road.
My expectations can be huge - especially this time of year. I'm learning to release them, to be alert and open to the unexpected. I'm a list person. At the end of the day, I like to check things off my list, whether actual or mental. I've even been known to add items to my list that I've already done just so I can check them off! But I've found that if I am willing to toss my list aside, the unexpected can be a wonderful surprise - the chance to spend time with a friend, to help out someone in need, to do something fun with my husband and/or daughters. The list will still be there - ready to finish another day.
The unexpected can happen at any time. There's no sense in preparing for it...wouldn't that make it something that's expected? So here's to the unexpected this Christmas!

December 12, 2009

I climbed Mt. Whitney in the summer of 2005 - just before my daughter left for college. We hiked the 22-mile round trip in one day with my daughter's friend and her mother (who happily is my friend). I'll never forget the looks on the girls' faces when we went to the ranger station to pick up our permits and the ranger handed us black plastic "waste" bags, and she wasn't talking about our trash. One of the girls pinched the bag between her thumb and forefinger. The majority of the Mt. Whitney hike is done above the tree line, so there is not much privacy anyway. The ranger said that the helicopters didn't have time to clean out the porta-potties at the summit campground as they were being used to fight fires. We were encouraged to pack out our waste bags. =O
Some have asked about the "toileting" facilities on Mt. Kilimanjaro. I know that it is a well-traveled trail like the Mt. Whitney trail. Permits are required on Mt. Whitney to lessen the human impact, and guides are required on the Mt.Kilimanjaro trail for the same reason. I have been told that porta-potties are placed at strategic locations along the Mt. Kilimanjaro trail. Kind of ruins the mystique for me, but...when I am hiking that trail, I'm sure I will choose practicality over mystique!

December 2, 2009

When my girls were little, they liked to put on all of their dresses at the same time. It would be so funny to see them bundled in stacks of clothes. They would peel off a layer at a time until they were down to just one dress.
We went shopping for our Mt. Kilimanjaro layers the other day. By the time we reach the summit, we are supposed to be wearing at least four layers of clothing - a base layer of long underwear (top and bottom), a second, thicker layer of long underwear (top and bottom), pants, a fleece jacket and finally, waterproof jacket and pants. No cotton is allowed. That doesn't include socks, boots, hats and gloves. I have heard that on the final summit day, hikers don every stitch of clothing they have brought with them. I hope I can walk!