1. What is the hardest part of being a parent? For me, the hardest part is feeling like my heart is walking around outside of my body. I constantly worry about everything that concerns that little guy. The worst part is when you are trying to do something (i.e. getting him to sleep in his own bed) and it becomes a challenge and you second guess everything that you do. No one has a lock on parenting and no one can tell you what is right for your family. It comes right down to trial and error. Sometimes knowing or thinking that you are doing your best isn't enough, but somehow you have to make it ok or else you go crazy. In the end you have to just hold your breath, count to ten and hope that your kids don't need any more therapy than you did.
2. What do you think you have learned most about yourself in the last 2 years? This one has caught me at the end of a pretty serious personal growth spurt. I feel like I have accomplished so much. I graduated college after 11 difficult years, I climbed a mountain (and lived to tell about it), I birthed a 12# baby (by c-section), I will be celebrating my 7th wedding anniversary in a couple of months, I seen some amazing places and met some amazing people... I guess what I have learned most is that I can do whatever it is that I really want or need to do and I don't need anyone else's approval or validation to be who I am.
3. What was your favorite part of your trip to memphis and why? My favorite part about Memphis was seeing Graceland. I think because it made Elvis a real person to me, not just a guy that sold out and made a bunch of corny movies, but a real guy who cared about a lot of people and used his money to help a lot of people and organizations. That is the kind of person that I want to be when I get rich. I was also profoundly sad when I saw his grave site and thought about the last few years of his life and how many people will only think of him as a corny actor from the 60's, or the fat Elvis in a bedazzled jumpsuit.
4. What would happen on a perfect day for you? The weather is about 75degrees and sunny. Max would sleep in until about 9am, then the three of us would wake up to a delicious pot of coffee and some pancakes (like the ones from delphines in memphis). We would sit on the deck and drink our coffee while we watched m play. Then we would strap on our boots, packs and maxitaxi and hit the trail head. Stopping for lunch at the riverside. Finishing the trail and heading home for dinner where our closest friends are waiting for a bbq and games or a movie. M would of course go to bed without protest. Then some alone time with s, then drifting off to a blissful slumber. Only to wake the next morning and do it all again.
5. What do you think happens to us when we die? I think that like most things in life, death is also cyclical. You live, you die and are a soul for a while and then you live again. I don't think that it is a straight line and that the end result is that you are either nothing or a soul forever. I believe that life on earth is heaven and hell, depending on the day.