on... that first official day when it's a Monday and everyone else was at work and I was at home with the wee ones I decided to take them up to the Linear Trail which is this long well-maintained trail between Banks and Vernonia. They have done a LOT of work on it since I was a kid and we used to
go up on the logging roads and cut firewood from the trees that they had cut down in order to create the trail. I know that we could sit and think for a LONG time about the trees that were lost in order to create this trail which is paved in places and gravel in others. A trail which allows many who would not otherwise enter the woods to enjoy it. should those people have left the woods alone? Should those people stay out of the woods now?I don't know... but I don't think so. If we keep people IN the woods then they recog
nize how much they are DOING when they are wasteful, and I think that's going to have the MOST impact in the end... don't you? I wonder how many people feel the weight of the crisis that we are in right now in regards to our planet? Do they know that for every 2.2 pounds of meat you eat there are 70 pounds of CO2 expelled into the atmosphere? Fuck taste... lets think about our kids future. Just, looking into 
my kids eyes is enough for me to change.Ruby asked me when she could start smoking... so now I have quit. Are you KIDDING ME? I don't want that!!! I also want to see her grow up and have her own children and grandchildren... I don't want to let my kids down by being selfish. Selfish by smoking or by not taking care of this planet that they will inherit from me.
When you take your kids into the woods, and you really spend time with them, you begin to see who they really are. On our creek walk, Ruby who is usually screaming about
every scrape and bruise was boldly marching off on her own showing how well she could walk on the rocks. She was amazing, and she then came back to hold her brother's hand and show him the way. It made me wonder what they will be like in the fifth grade, the eighth, the twelfth.They also came back for me, they wanted me to journey with them to the places that they were scared to go into alone. That's what parents are there for. Our job is to hold our children's hands when they reach out and say that they're afraid to do it on their own and then to silently let go as we walk along so that they realize we are still right beside them but that they could do it themselves all along.
It's hard to raise independent children. It means that you must go against your instinct to protect and insulate them from everything which may hurt or frighten them. But, as adults we want them to be capable, and a capable adult can handle those things.
(Speaking of independent, look closely and you will see that Eph has three pony's on his head. He decided that Roo shouldn't get to have all of the fun. He was SO much better about having them put in, of course he was... that's how life just IS, aye?)
