Things have really changed for us now that our little one is no longer in a stroller.  Our walks may take us longer but it feels way more participatory for us as a whole family.  We are blessed to live in one of the prettiest places in the city, surrounded by huge trees and a creek where we are able to enjoy all sorts of wildlife.  If we have time to do the “full loop” it is almost three miles.  (We essentially make a giant ellipses around the creek regardless.)  Our five year old walks our Shih Tzu Chin Chin, I walk our girl wolf hybrid Cheyenne (a little over 70 pounds) and my husband takes our biggest baby, her woflie brother Dakota, who weighs a little over 90 pounds.  On days when the weather does not permit we just take the “short loop.”  Pictured here is our beautiful early turning point, a bridge over the creek about a mile away.  I find the bridge, the creek, and the trees enchanting in any season.  But the true beauty lies in being out with our animals and each other.  Sometimes we’ll talk about the day or what we’d like to do coming up and sometimes we simply walk in silence and take in the always tranquil sights, sounds, and smells of Mother Nature.  And she never fails to disappoint.  I would say our walks and meals are the two most important times we have together on a regular basis as a family.  I realize as I write it is also the only time no electronic devices are allowed (except my Apple Watch to know if whether or not I’ve gotten any exercise.)  I look back and cannot believe I felt sorry for myself because I had never had a TV dinner until college!  My mother cooked every meal from scratch, and Daddy always appreciated it.  I took it for granted.  The only walking I did with my family was at the State Fair or Six Flags, but it was always a special time.  It takes a concerted effort to carve out and hold open that time and I often fail.  But each day I resolve to do better.  The American essayist Henry David Throreau once said:

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.  To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.  To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”

I hope and pray our family time will carve a deep path into all of us, just as the time I had with my parents did with me.  My father so often said that time was the one thing he could not replace.  I wish for our time to be spent loving, learning, and listening to each other over shared meals and our family walks.