Off... by about 3 miles.

And summer is on! It's kind of weird to think that it's June already, and I'm still occasionally bringing my jacket with me to work in the mornings... honestly, not really needed, at this point, but they keep the office really chilled, sometimes... and putting that down into words makes me realize that it may be one of the most cushy first-world problems anyone could have.

It's been a nice week in my life. While I've still been quite busy with house work, I've also tried to be careful to give myself time, too- and one of those opportunities came in the form of offroading. There is a large corner of my state that I've looked at for years, wishing to explore, but never thinking one could get very far in with a motorized vehicle. I realized this was false, recently, and I, my brother and my dad went offroading in the area. It was a great drive, to be certain- mountains, rocks, trees- all accompanied with that piney, high mountain smell that you can't get anywhere else.

During one of these stops to step outside and smell the sweet air, we spotted what looked like a mine in the side of a hill, probably about a mile or 2 away (we had to pull out our binoculars to somewhat solidly confirm it was, in fact, a mine), and as we approached the road below it, my brother and I decided to try and scramble up to it. The climb was a steep ascent up a rockslide, and besides the obvious inherent dangers, I nearly grabbed a rattlesnake at one point. But I, in the lead, made it up to a rocky cliff after about 15 minutes...

But after getting a good ways up this mountainous hill, about to where I thought the mine ought to be, I scampered my way up and around a rock face, and got a view of more hills in this canyon, and realized we weren't where the mine was. In fact, it turned out we were over 3 miles away from it, as I looked back after the trip. I came back down the hill not once but twice, because my brother had taken a slightly different route and was precariously climbing up a steep embankment of loose rocks looking for where I went, and I had to go back and let him know I was quite in the opposite direction.

And thinking about the outcome of the events in retrospect, I think maybe a fair amount of us can relate in a way. How often have you begun a project, and put hours and hours of your time into fixing or designing something, only to get most of the way there and find a serious setback that requires you to start from the beginning all over again? In the case of the mine, we decided to forget about it and go on with our trip- that's the fun of an offroad trip with no solid plans. But then, I have been in those cases where I put in the last screw, step back, and realize that while I thought I was designing a robust masterpiece, I had missed one small detail that caused my work to be all for nothing.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of my favorite rants to go on- and frankly, I'd be lying if I said I had a solid point to bringing up these scenarios- but as someone who has felt the defeat of these moments not once but many times, I can say with assurance that, in those moments, I feel perhaps more vanquished than at any other point in my life, and it even lends itself to a bad case of depression, sometimes. But as oft as these defeats come, and as bad as they are in the moment, the darkness passes, and things get better. Sometimes it's not even about going back and succeeding again- because sometimes giving up on things is just practical wisdom (not a common lesson in kids' movies, but there you have it). But whatever comes next after the defeat, however long it lasts, and as corny as it sounds, (and it does indeed), each time we rise, it's an opportunity to begin again with a new adventure.

See, I take things like a fun scamper up a rocky incline, and I end up at soliloquy-esque speeches... I guess I get carried away, sometimes. But alas, I have much to do this week, and miles to go before I sleep... except tonight, I really need to get to bed at a reasonable time, tonight. Until next time, see ya!

Off... by about 3 miles.

Adminisk8or

06/04/2024