#69

CLIMB A TREE

Somewhere over the years, I became afraid of heights. It's not the going up that scares me. It's the looking down. At times, I have had a slight feeling of vertigo.

Today, I took the kids to Little Mulberry Park. That park is one of my favorite places. It's so quiet and a couple parts of the park have an overlook where you can see a long skyline of Gwinnett County. There's one spot in particular that would be a beautiful place to have a late picnic and then just sit on a blanket to watch the sunset. I haven't tested this theory yet but the idea just makes me smile.


The kids and I walked around to look for a good climbing tree. I saw a couple that might be okay to climb. After getting a few feet off the ground, I realized I had nowhere to go and hadn't climbed near enough to cross it off my list. This happened twice. My daughter wanted to give up at that point and go on the playground but I was determined. I "asked" her, as only a mom does, if we could try a little bit longer. And that's when we found it. A tree growing out of the ground at just the right angle and with just the right amount of branches for support.

By this point, the kids (yes, my daughter included) were excited to find a tree to climb and decided to try it for themselves. I tried to remind them to pay attention on the way up - and mostly on the way down. That is actually the worst part: coming down. You've already climbed the tree and just head closer to the ground without paying attention. Falling off this tree would have posed some seriously problems. Just below the branch where we sat was a tiny ravine of sorts with rocks and broken tree limbs in it. A hospital trip if I ever saw one.

The best part of this whole thing was to see the enthusiasm my children had in climbing the tree. They were a bit hesitant at first but seeing me try to climb the other two trees may have let them know that it was okay. It's such a clear indicator that they react based on my reactions. Being afraid like I have been for all of their lives has only given them (my little girl mostly) an inherent fear of things before even trying them. No bueno.


TASK #69 ... COMPLETED 7/2