Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Vactation
I flirt with sickness once a year. It is not a little stuffy nose, or slight fever, or itchy throat. It usually holes me up for a month or two with either a fever of 102 and a cough that keeps the entire family awake. During this yearly occurrence, I get little sleep and my body breaks down. I forget what it is like to be well. This is the hardest part, not knowing if or when I will get healthy.
It is amazing how my mind wanders to when I start to write. I was sitting down to write about our vacation and I find myself dwelling on illness. Maybe it was because I saw mountains. The Rocky Mountains demand amazement. As we approached Estes Park, I couldn’t help to imagine what Lewis and Clark were thinking as they approached this mammoth display of nature. I’m sure it wasn’t what was going through my head at that moment; “Wow”, more like what would be going through David’s head when he was facing Goliath, "Oh Fuck". The Rocky Mountains show how superior nature is to man. Looking at them, I couldn’t help but think this enormity could never be captured on film or in a story or in a song.
The "YMCA of the Rocky's" provided a great family vacation. The boys always had something to do whether it was YMCA activities such as bubbles, parachute games, "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs" or if it was just activities around the center like Putt-Putt-Golf, horseback riding, fishing, or hiking. We even got to swim on the last day at the pool. We were also in close proximity to the Rocky Mountain National Park, which offered hiking, site seeing, or fishing. We were always busy.
My dad and I even got to go fishing in the national park. We hiked up to Dream Lake that is over 10,000 feet above sea level and fished for cutthroat trout, a trout that was thought extent several years ago but is now thriving in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The trout have blood red strips along the body and gills.
The best part for me was the time I got to spend with my parents. My mother and father graciously invited us to be with them and then pampered us with kindness. I felt, for the first time in a long time; safe, loved, as if all was almost normal.
I guess that is why I was thinking about being sick and having that scared feeling of not knowing when I am going to be well again. This vacation has helped me see that I am going, some day, to feel normal again. That there will be a time when I am not struggling to make sense of things and I will be able to relax and take a deep breath and smile.
It is amazing how my mind wanders to when I start to write. I was sitting down to write about our vacation and I find myself dwelling on illness. Maybe it was because I saw mountains. The Rocky Mountains demand amazement. As we approached Estes Park, I couldn’t help to imagine what Lewis and Clark were thinking as they approached this mammoth display of nature. I’m sure it wasn’t what was going through my head at that moment; “Wow”, more like what would be going through David’s head when he was facing Goliath, "Oh Fuck". The Rocky Mountains show how superior nature is to man. Looking at them, I couldn’t help but think this enormity could never be captured on film or in a story or in a song.
The "YMCA of the Rocky's" provided a great family vacation. The boys always had something to do whether it was YMCA activities such as bubbles, parachute games, "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs" or if it was just activities around the center like Putt-Putt-Golf, horseback riding, fishing, or hiking. We even got to swim on the last day at the pool. We were also in close proximity to the Rocky Mountain National Park, which offered hiking, site seeing, or fishing. We were always busy.
My dad and I even got to go fishing in the national park. We hiked up to Dream Lake that is over 10,000 feet above sea level and fished for cutthroat trout, a trout that was thought extent several years ago but is now thriving in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The trout have blood red strips along the body and gills.
The best part for me was the time I got to spend with my parents. My mother and father graciously invited us to be with them and then pampered us with kindness. I felt, for the first time in a long time; safe, loved, as if all was almost normal.
I guess that is why I was thinking about being sick and having that scared feeling of not knowing when I am going to be well again. This vacation has helped me see that I am going, some day, to feel normal again. That there will be a time when I am not struggling to make sense of things and I will be able to relax and take a deep breath and smile.
