~A Bitter Swallow~

It's been an interesting week. Last Saturday I went on a hike with my daughter and her class. She is in a intermediate-mixed age (IMA) class. In other words, it's a 4th and 5th grade mix. There are about 60ish students in her class, as well as 2 teachers. The 4th graders will have the same class next year as 5th graders. This year, my daughter is one of the 5th graders. They make certain 5th graders "leaders" of groups. "Leaders" are composed of students who have shown skills throughout their 4th grade year. In celebration and honor of being chosen leader, the teachers took all of the leaders and their parents on a hike. I was thinking it would be a relatively easy hike, considering they were taking a bunch of 10-year olds. I was sorely mistaken (no pun intended... read on). They chose Mt. Townsend (see some info here: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-townsend ). This is an 8-mile round trip trail going up the side of the mountain in the Olympics. It is much steeper than I anticipated. I did not make it to the top. I got about half a mile (they said roughly 7 minutes) from the summit, when my left calf decide to have painful spasms on me, and would not stop. The view from where I was left was still stunning, though. Seattle looked so unbelievably tiny. It reminded me of a little Leggo town. My daughter was able to make it to the summit with the rest of the trail-headers, and they got to have lunch up there. It was horribly windy, though, and the wind was bitterly cold.

The killer, though, was the walk down. Had I had any sense in my head, I would have had second thoughts about the shoes I wore. Seeing as I have no other pair of shoes, save heeled boots and high heels, the shoes I wore were not something I stopped to consider, much to the disadvantage of my poor ankles. I have a pair of those Sketchers Shape-Ups. They were fine going up (but may have accounted for my failure to reach the top), but on the way down... a whole other ballgame. Think about it: These shoes are designed to throw you off balance. That's how they work. Add to that a steep incline, legs that are already wobbley from the climb up, and it was a recipie for disaster. I twisted first my left foot under me, resulting in a faceplant. Then a little bit later, I twisted my right foot under me, resulting in yet another almost faceplant, which was stopped by a big tree. By now, my walking is pretty dire. I twisted them really good. I twisted the right one yet again further down. It scared the poop out of my daughter. (Thankfully, not literally, although I did have the foresight to bring toilet paper, which was a hit with some of the other hikers!) My daughter's teacher found me a big fallen tree branch, which I was able to use as a walking stick / crutch for the rest of the way down (which was approximately a mile). I made it, painfully. But, I got down without having to be carried.

The whole thing left me feeling pretty down about myself though. I was the one who held up the teacher on the way up. Then, it was me who held them up on the way down. I felt fat, and worthless. I felt like a burden, and that everyone was wondering what I was even doing there. Hell, I was wondering what I was doing there. It took every ounce of willpower not to let myself cry while making it down that mountain. I didn't want my daughter to see it. Not how much pain I was really in, physically or mentally.

I had to take Monday off of work, because I couldn't walk. Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to come in, but both days saw me in some serious pain by the time I got home. It's now to the point where it's almost healed. It feels now like I spent 10 hours walking on concrete in high heels. That dull, achy feeling in my feet. And I'm still sporting the bruises on the insides of my feet.

This past week I've also been having to get my house organized and cleaned up. My birthday is on Wednesday, so we're having my birthday party this next Saturday. When looking at the guest list, we have a potential 50-60 people coming over, and it's suppose to be wet outside, so it will all be indoors! Wowza! So, I've been rearranging, cleaning, organizing, cleaning, etc. All while trying to work around not having a stove. Which reminds me, I need to remind everyone not to bring food that needs the stove.. because I don't have one.

So, that's been my week. There's been more, but I can't think of it at the moment.