When life throws you a curve-ball . . .

This weekend was the end of our hunting season for the year, as archery season ended today. I was not successful hunting for elk, but I was for deer. I am not disappointed, though. If anything, spending time in the mountains on my own gave me lots of time to think. Time to really think about all those things going on in my life and the life of my family. It seems like life was throwing curve-ball after curve-ball at me the past couple months.

  • Any sentence uttered by a teenage girl ends in “ugh”, a high pitched grunt, a sigh, or an eye-roll, unless of course the sentence is directed at a friend instead of an adult.
  • Thirteen-year-old girls are harder to deal with than when they were three-year-old girls.
  • I am not good at expressing myself to my teenage daughter without losing my patience.
  • I can be brave, even when all I want to do is curl up into a ball and cry.
  • I have a lot to be thankful for.
  • The giggle of four little girls is the best sound ever.

As I was sitting in my meadow last night, during my last hunt of the season, I was thinking about all the turmoil I have dealt with in the last month or so. I was just kicked back, staring at my toes reviewing it all. I heard a noise and looked up and saw the most amazing sight:

Every problem that had been zooming around in my brain just melted away. Peace was there. It’s hard to brood when you’re surrounded by beauty such as this.

We headed home today, and stopped at the scenic viewpoint just out of Ukiah looking out over the breaks of the John Day River. We stop there every year with our family and take a picture. So here we are, in all our glory. Filthy, tired, freezing our butts off, and excited to be headed home to fresh laundry and hot showers.

The kiddos are all tucked in, showers have been taken, and we’ve all settled back into starting a new week. I can’t wait to see what life throws my way this week!