Mini Hikes

As most of you know, I have terminal cancer. I no longer teach, I no longer hike and travel has been kept to a minimum. My son no longer lives with me (but he's less than 10 minutes down the road). Of course we have hope that I will the next miracle, but really we just hope I will have years where I feel well enough to teach, hike and travel again. And lately, my boy has been spending more and more time here.

I started thinking, I could at least try the minimum. I am supposed to be up, and out of bed as much as possible, but it hasn't quite looked that way. While I am happy that I can still do 100% of my self care, I do spend over 50% of my day laying or sitting down.

The other day, not wanting to miss the string of 75 degree days, I went for a walk, a hike, in the woods.
I left my car at 3:22 and was back at 3:38. A 16 minute hike, chaperoned by my mother.

Here's the thing with 75 degree days in winter: the high temp is not usually reached until noon to one o'clock, and by 4 it's starting to cool down again. You don't have a long window to get out. But I talked myself into getting out of bed, out of my house, and into nature.

And although it was short, it was sweet.

Always looking for hearts. 

I want to get outside more in 2016. I know many parks have "first hike" programs going on today. But I will content if I do 20 minutes on my next hike. (Which will be muddy, it has been raining and flooding here a lot lately).