Full Flight

I was thinking about exploring the back roads at the Lake. It's a bit of a family legacy for us. Our dad used to take us up the logging roads as kids and we'd find endless adventures. In recent years if we wanted to go on some such adventure we'd ask Dad where to go and how to get there. With the girls so little, we haven't gone too far.

I was thinking they are getting old enough to go a bit further afield now. But now Dad's gone. He won't be able to tell us where to go and how to get there. For a fleeting instant I was sad, but more because I miss my dad. Then something good began to rise up. An excitement about exploring on our own. Of course we always could have before. Nothing was stopping us, but we tended to rely on Dad's direction. I don't remember all the places we went as kids, but guess what? We get to do our own exploring! Find our way, our own adventures on the back roads for Emily and Kaylee, their cousins, their friends, and even for me.

It stands to reason, in a sad kind of way, that those who give us our wings, might not ever see us really fly. They can't. We rely on these people - of course we do. Maybe the are everything to us for a time. That's how the wings grow. But the very reliance that nurtured the wings' growth, precludes full flight. Then something changes and we take to the air. Glorious and heartbreaking all at once.