mother's day

my heart is so full this mother's day. i spent the entire day indulging in the people and places i love more than anything.



there's something about standing next to a mountain of granite that makes you realize how small you are. and not just literally, how small we are, but how small our lives are; how temporary, how fleeting, compared to this gigantic, massive, imposing mountain that has stood unchanged for a thousand years.



it is this permanence and majesty that draws me here every year. whenever i find myself floating and unsteady, i need only to remember the beauty of this place - how everything stands so still and fixed - not reacting - just beautiful and present through a thousand years of sunshine and storms; not desiring to do or be anything more. a hard but essential lesson to learn as a mom.



when adam asked me what i wanted to do with my day - i immediately thought of this place. unlike any place i have experienced, yosemite puts me immediately at ease. it has a certain spiritual power; a quality found in nature often, yes. but nothing as awe-inspiring as this place. you'll notice i didn't say been; yosemite isn't a place that one has been to - that is such a passive word. but the closer truth is to have experienced it; witnessed it. it draws you in and forces you to be an active particpant in witnessing all the beauty there is to behold. i remember the feeling that overcame me when i first drove into the valley. i was breathless, speachless; overcome with joy.



Adam took me to a part of yosemite i had never been to. i was a bit reluctant at first, becuase yosemite valley is my definition of heaven on Earth - and to be that close and not witness it one more time was unfathomable. but this place he described (called hetch hetchy) sounded beautiful - and it would be so like me to miss out on something entirely new and wonderful by opting for the known quantity. so i went along for the ride. and in a word, it was: breathtaking.
the steep granite cliffs and plunging waterfalls were absolutely amazing.




it is definitely a different experience going to a place like yosemite with a 2 1/2 year old and 4 month old. you know, the potty breaks every 30 minutes, climbing into the back seat to make a bottle while malcolm careens around hair pin mountain turns...but magically, the powerful serenity of this place manages to calm even the most fierce criers and whiners (i'll let you decide which two i'm talking about)







i couldn't think of a better way to spending mother's day than hiking this trail with adam and the girls. it was just the change in scenery i needed to start this week anew.