The 2013 started with a mountain. This is not a metaphor for some spiritual battle I have conquered on day one of the new year. I went for a hike. My husband was at work and I decided to accept our friends' invitation to join them for a little bit of a physical activity before Kai's nap time. The weather was great - a little overcast, not too hot, not too cold. The views were amazing. Pacific ocean can be impressive. Kai was excited, the way only a toddler can be. I, on the other hand, was miserable and preoccupied with silently cursing the moment I agreed to do the hike.
Let me put things in perspective. This was not a Colorado fourteener. This was a Central Coast California hill that a bunch of kids, including two 2-year-olds, happily hiked on their own, both up and down, without any signs of fatigue, only slowing down when they had to pick up a stick, kick a rock or jump in the mud. I was burping acid, gasping for air, feeling as if my stomach suddenly weighed 300 pounds. I ran two half-marathons last year. This is what pregnancy does to you. I was considering calling for a helicopter to get me back down.
All of that made me irritable. I am irritable no matter what these days. It's another common side effect of pregnancy. I was getting mad at my son for doing stupid things. You know, like running and jumping and throwing. Outrageous, for a two year old in great outdoors to do such things, right?
But when it was over, I was really happy I went. The kid, even though scolded for no good reasons, didn't really mind, as he was busy chasing others and not listening to his Mom in the first place. He was so worn out that he took a 3 hour long nap after, which was a bliss for me. I got to spend the first day of the new year with my lovely friends, in a beautiful setting, doing something that at least remotely reminded me of exercise. So I think in the end, sometimes we just need to conquer the mountain to see that the conquering act was, in fact, fun. I am OK with 2013 to be like that.
With that said, I came to realize that unlike other bloggers, I didn't write a blog post that would wrap up 2012. It was probably because 2012 was too magical for words. It took me all over. Old places and new. Old friends and new. Adventures everywhere. One growing little boy and one growing baby to be. Lots of memories to carry on with me. The kind that you can't really talk about, you just need to sit and listen to their humming in your mind, your own private movie theater inside your head, filled with images no screen can capture, with music no orchestra can reproduce. 2012 was beautiful. Here is to beauty and magic to continue!
Happy New Year! Hopefully the 3 hour nap made up for the exhaustive hike.
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