So this has got to be the funniest adventure I've gone on this year. My good friend and fellow widow Jennifer and I decided we were going to go mudding with a group of mid-singles. It was very cold, very snowy, and VErY slick! We drove out to Leslie Gulch State park in Oregon (very beautiful out there) We did pretty well until we stopped at this little area where everyone met. The rest of the group went on to find a better spot and Jen and I decided we would stay just for a little bit to let the kids stretch their legs before we moved on. I think that was our mistake.
We loaded up the kids and started the direction of everyone else slipping and sliding all the way. We got to a hill that we need to try and get over and by the time we got to the top it was so slick we didn't want to try and get over the slick side. Not to mention there was a little cliff and water at the bottom. Super scary. So Jen decided she wanted to turn around and go home, which was fine with me since I was her passenger and didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. So as she turned it around I took all the kids out of the car and hiked them up the hill so they wouldn't be in the car if it decided to slide. Those kids taught me an important lesson about prayer. They were up there praying like crazy that their mom wouldn't die...and we would be safe. I can't even describe the spirit that came over me at that moment when I listened to those kids pray. Needless to say, we made it down the hill safely and slipped and slid all the way out of there. We had lunch at a cute little pizza place in Marsing and called it a day.
What did I learn from this? Pray, stay with people who know what they are doing, listen to the spirit, and looking back I would say do I give up too easily? Would we have been just fine if we would have pushed a little farther. Did we miss out on a great experience because we were too afraid to try something hard? We found out later that someone came back to help us and we weren't there anymore. We didn't stick it out with patience.
Yes we did have fun with what we did do, but there was more fun on the other side of that hill if we would have pushed on and not given up. I know I will not be afraid to move on and push forward from now on. There is something great for me if I'm not afraid to take risks and jump in feet first. By now you probably know that I'm not talking about the mudding experience anymore. This is about my life. I've held on to what is comfortable not allowing myself to experience more in my life. It's easier to be considered the widow and hide behind the "I'm not ready" phase. I'm ready to jump in feet first!
