Paradise

So...I haven't been blogging and I haven't completely disappeared. What's been going on? Not to worry, I've just been busy lately. The last couple of weeks have been interesting. I've been spending a lot of time recently in self-reflection. For my birthday, I was given several sets of cards from various people, including The Complete Tarot Kit. This week, I have gotten up early, spent time by myself reading and writing, and have been practicing doing a three-card spread to become more familiar with the cards. The more time I spend reading cards, the more interested I am in Tarot. In the past week, the time I've had for myself to read, write, and exercise has been incredibly good for me and for my state of mind.

I have been stressed about my paper, because it is such a personal endeavor. It has been the last thing that I have wanted to do. I feel differently now. I feel like ideas are percolating in the background and I am in a good space to work on it. I believe that I needed to step back for a while and spend time on myself before I could put my time, energy, and heart into the paper.

I had intended to work on it yesterday, but B. and I decided to go to Paradise on Mt. Rainier, as we'd never been there together. We left kind of late and started hiking around 3 pm. B. chose a route that went by Reflection Lakes and then up along the Skyline Trail before going to Paradise. It was late; I was cranky; and I wanted to see the wildflowers at Paradise. I didn't think going on a 4-hour hike that was in the opposite direction of Paradise was such a great idea.

One of the things that I pride myself on is that although I hate to do it, I can admit when I am wrong. After B. prodded me to stop worrying and have a little fun, I chose to look on the bright side.

The hike was absolutely beautiful. In fact, I had the best time ever. I had my cranky moments, but overall it was an incredible day. I fell even more in love with B. It was so good for us. Good for me, too, because it was good to get some exercise. We ended up hiking between 7 and 8 miles. And the timing was perfect. We got back to the car at 7:30, just after it had started to cool down.

So, the hike took less time than I thought and we were able to stop at the visitor center before hiking back to the car to get something to eat. We got there just as the doors were being locked, but someone let us in and we shared a burger and a cup of soup. Lucky for us. :)

What a great day!