Paint Mines

On March 17th we headed to the Paint Mines.  The Paint Mines are about an hour and twenty minutes south.  I thought that if we went South we would be more likely to have success with social distancing.  I was wrong.  There were a lot of people there.  I think they all had the same thought as us.  Everyone kept their distance each other and there was plenty of space to be away from others but I was surprised at how busy it was.  The bathrooms were locked and the gas station bathrooms were locked as well.  We have only taken the kids out on a hike one other time since then.  

Piper was not very happy for a large portion of our time at the Paint Mines.  She loves to climb big rocks.  She gets incredibly excited about the idea of climbing rocks and even though we had told her that climbing rocks at the Paint Mines was against the rules, in her mind, we weren't serious and she could climb to her heart's desire.  It was especially hard for her when we showed up and a large majority of the people ignored the rules and climbed anyway.  She was really upset that we wouldn't give in and let her climb.  Both Mike and I are rule followers but Mike especially is a rule follower and if signs are posted saying it's against the rules, we will follow them.  Anyway, it was really disappointing to her and I'm sure she wished for any parents but us.  She whined and begged and cried and sat down on her butt and wouldn't move.  Half-way through, her bad attitude was starting to get to all of us.  At one point I heard Will say, "Listen Piper, I'm gonna pull a Mom here.  I want you to list 10 things about this day and this experience that you can be happy with."  She couldn't think of one thing.  As a side comment, I was secretly really pleased to hear Will say that.  Success!  At least one of my kids has picked up on my efforts to make a not so good situation positive.  We were all starting to get annoyed and somewhat short with each other.  It really is true how one person's attitude can affect everyone.  We were about to head back to the car but decided to go on one more trail that would take us up to the top of the Paint Mines.  The views were pretty cool and Piper began to be happy and enjoy our hike.  

I'm not writing this down for everyone to see how bad Piper's attitude was.  It really was a personal disappointment for her.  Her vision of how the day would go was very different than what actually happened.  Even though we had tried to prepare her and tell her our expectations, she still wanted and hoped for something different and thought maybe things would change.  I don't blame her for feeling sad.  Those rocks were really cool and maybe it was kind of mean of us to take her to a place like that knowing she would want to climb and couldn't.  In the end, her attitude changed and she ended up enjoying the hike and the views.  

It kind of got me thinking about this situation we are in with Covid-19, or any experience I guess.  This is definitely not the expectation I had for our Spring or for 2010.  On the hike I kept thinking, "If she could just think about the hike and the beauty surrounding her, she will really love this."  It took her some time but eventually she was able to discover that for herself. This day keeps coming back to me and I think, "If I can just focus on the gifts God is giving me during this Pandemic, I can really enjoy this."  I really don't want to end up at the end of this and look back and think, "Hmm, I wish I had appreciated the slowness of our lives more during this Pandemic."  I am trying to really appreciate the gifts during this time.  There are days where I feel like Piper and I just want to stamp my foot and say, "But this isn't what I wanted!  This isn't what I had planned."  There are also lots of days where I look over the day and think, "This time is a blessing."  

I guess I'm glad we decided to keep going and didn't give up and go back to the car but decided to take that turn to the top so she could have a chance to see the view and a chance to realize that even though it was different than she expected, it wasn't a bad view.