But Still…

While we were watching our youngest play in the mud yesterday, our oldest had gone for her first hike ever.   You’d think that she would chose a gentle one or two mile hike, but no, she went on an eight mile hike into the wilderness.  (Actually a rather popular hiking spot up to Bridal Veil Falls, but still…) 

As she piled up the layers of clothing and added provisions to her backpack (lot and lots of provisions just in case something happened!) I bit my lip so that I couldn’t accidently tell her she had to stay home where it was safe.  I knew that my child was responsible,  that there would be plenty of people around and that her hiking companion had hiked for two weeks in the wilds of Alaska last summer.  I knew this was something I had to let her do, but still…

Halfway through Mimi’s game, KT sent me a text.  It contained this photo. 

All I could say was Wow!

Then the Worried Mom Gene kicked in.  I had to ask if she was in snow.  She texted back that she was in just a little. 

My girl is no dummy.  She knew if she told me how much snow they were really in I would worry like crazy.  My over-active imagination would have me convinced that something horrible would happen and one of them would be forced to devour the other just to survive.  Of course, I knew there was no way that would really happen, but still…

I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am of KT for simply going off and taking on this challenge.  It’s pretty amazing to watch how she has grown from our sweet little girl to a strong, confident young woman.   It’s been delightful to see her grow up, but still…