My husband Tim took this picture in October at the top of Mount Josephine in Grand Portage. Sitting on the rocks looking to the north you see Canada and to the south you see Minnesota. It was good to just sit for a long while and take in the view.
There were other people, strangers who sat with us on the top of Mount Josephine that Fall day. No one talked much. We just sat and looked together. Some fed the chipmunks that clearly had been fed before. Photos were taken and then slowly folks headed back down. We were the last to leave.
The hike up was a mile and a half with an elevation gain of 650 feet. The way down was way harder for me given my balance issues. I had a benign brain tumor that has impacted my vestibular nerve. Vestibular nerves help you stay up on your feet. Mine’s gone so when trails get too steep, I simply sit and scoot my way down. The seat of my pants gets very muddy, but at least I don’t crash and fall.
In these post-election days, I am finding the need to sit, rest and take in the longer view. I’m needing to sit so I don’t fall into despair, which can be even slipperier than mud on the trail. I sit because I’ve lost my nerve.
Sitting is good as long as we eventually rise. We rise up together for our daughters and our daughters’ daughters. And I am not even saying that metaphorically anymore because our daughter Maddie is in the second trimester of her pregnancy. She had a scare on Saturday night. I could hardly breath as we sat and waited for any news. And then her beautiful text came in, “She’s Alive!”
She is alive. We are still alive. We may need to sit for a bit before we scoot along. We can do it together. As always, we take care of ourselves and those around us. We do what we can where we can. We donate money, share meals and offer to babysit for our neighbors.
Last Friday, I helped a bunch of third graders at Myers-Wilkins Elementary School build blanket forts in their classroom. I think they needed to sit together too. I was glad that their amazing teacher knew this. And then we all went out into the sunshine for a dance party in the bus circle. Dancing together seemed to make us all feel so much better. I’m pretty sure a lot of us grown-ups cried as we all sang along with Jay Sean’s “Down”.
We all danced getting as low as we could go as we belted out in unison,
“Baby are you down, down, down, down?
Even if the sky is falling down
Ooh, no
And the sky is falling down? “
Take the time you need to sit on a hillside or under a blanket. Then together we rise to walk, to dance, to organize especially when it feels like the sky is falling down.
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