One Apple Out of Reach

We had the best plans for our organic fruits and vegetables this year.  We would've had tomatoes, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, and apples a plenty.  The growing season is pretty much over now.  After a fantastic, fruitful season, we enjoyed a few handfuls of blackberries, several tomatoes, and one last apple Isaac got to enjoy that the deer couldn't reach.  We ended up putting far more effort in than we got out.  Our efforts at controlling mother nature proved futile, still clinging to the hope of a bountiful harvest.  Such is life sometimes, I suppose.  Competing with the birds for the blueberries, the insects for the tomatoes, the prehistoric wasps for the peaches, and the deer for the blackberries and apples all season long had little impact.  "Are you kidding me babe.  The only apple the dear didn't get is the one they couldn't reach.  Where is Isaac so I can lift him up?"  Far better to let go and be accepting of things as they are rather than continue complaining about our dismal returns.  Time to be positive and playful, right?  At least the critters and bugs got to eat well this season.  HA!  We had the chance to be generous by feeding all of them.  "Hey babe, I thought we were supposed to be living off the land?"  Not so much.  Now that's funny indeed.     

Who Do You See?

I saw recently that a young women took a selfie with an elderly women in the background, then purposely or unintentionally shamed the women based on comparing her own figure to that of the other woman.  Doesn't this point to one of the beliefs we must unlearn in order to find true happiness?  Hasn't society led us to believe that we must be better than those around us in every conceivable way, in this case competing with others with regard to physical beauty?  I've struggled with this one over the years with the scars from my motorcycle accident and being more of a wiry guy than others who are much more muscular.  Will Kim continue to find me as physically desirable as other men, particularly as I grow older?  Heck, I remember not too long ago with respect to age, someone Kim just met commented that she must have shown up with her father, me!  HA!  I know, that's not even right.  It's like I just get older and she doesn't and yet the question is, what does any of that really matter?

I wonder if many of us are led to believe that if we are better looking than others, this somehow proves we are better, more desirable, worthy or even more loveable than others?  As we compete with and compare ourselves to others around us, can't this also lead us to criticize them, like we saw with the two woman above?  Who is to say that the elderly women isn't just as beautiful as the younger women, regardless of age, and doesn't this completely depend on the perception of the viewer?  Even if two people look at the exact same image, like the drawing below that shows both an older and younger women at the same time (can you see them both?), isn't it possible that each person might see someone entirely different and both be right?  Sure, in the eyes of what society suggests, there will always be people around us better looking, yet at the end of the day, in the truest sense of what genuine beauty is, not one of us is any better than another.

We must stop the judging, labeling, criticizing of others, as well as our self.  We must simply relax, begin to unlearn, and stop believing what we have been taught.  The truth is, we are all of equal, arguably infinite inherent beauty and value.  Now go take a look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, who do you see?  Are you beautiful?  I've got news for you, you most certainly are.    

Oh No You Didn't!

Kim and I have been training for our longest hike of the season, the 13.5 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail (AT) known as "the Roller Coaster".  With drastic up and down elevation changes adding several additional miles onto the hike, it is considered by many to be the most strenuous part of the AT.  I had the ridiculous idea at the beginning of the summer to do it all in a single day and we were about to go for it.

We parked Kim's car at the back end of the hike and drove together in mine to the start.  We were on the trail just after 8 am and making great progress on the most difficult ascent to Buzzard Hill, the roughly 1/3 point of the entire hike.  As we ate our lunch, I checked the time.  Only 2.5 hours.  Sweet!  "Babe, it doesn't seem like it will take anywhere near 10 hours."  We were off again within 20 minutes, soon entering more ups and downs, including two significant ascents.  I began to feel the wear on these old knees of mine.  All good, I thought.  At the 2/3 point, with the largest hills now down, even if I came in like a zombie, we would make it much quicker than we thought.

By the seven hour mark, with maybe an hour left, I was really hurting.  This was definitely taking a toll on my knees now, with every step causing considerable pain.  Suddenly, Kim let out a howl from behind me, "Oh no!"  I turned, "What?"  "I left the key to my car in your truck.  We have no way to drive back."  "Oh no you didn't!", I thought, as I noticed the urge to criticize her for this mistake and start useless complaining.  Instead, using Stop, Drop, and Be, I brought myself back to the present moment.  Time to sail these two C's.  I can choose a different reaction, kindness and compassion.  "It's okay babe.  No big deal.  I've done far worse."  She was still clearly upset, apologizing I'm betting a dozen times over our predicament, when she offered, "I wonder if my sister and brother-in-law, Debbie and James, would be willing to come get us and take us to your truck?" Thanks to their kindness, that's exactly what happened.  They met us at the end of the trail and saved the day.  Though I've no doubt we would have made it home just fine one way or another, by both of us Sailing the Seven C's together, it sure proved far easier and didn't spoil our great day in the process.