When Sabrina first suggested, for March's Outdoor Family Adventure Challenge, to catch a sunrise or sunset, my mind started spinning toward the educational opportunities it could provide. It was a perfect month for it! With the time change, it was possible my early risers could catch a sunrise and sunset close to each other and we could all discuss why the time changed happened, we could act out being the earth, sun and moon and then we could snuggle close and discuss important matters of head and heart.
Am I the only one that realized that would never happen?
As I'm sure all parents can appreciate, the time change came and went without the educational opportunity I wanted to turn it in to. And frankly, most of March came without taking the golden opportunity to catch a sunset (because after the time change, no way was I waking my kids up for a sunrise).
But I'm always up for a challenge, and this one was going to happen!
I tried making it a big event with my Forest Explorers group - where we'd meet together and dance under the colorful sky. In my head I imagined me taking glorious pictures of my children and their friends illuminated by the changing colors. And while I had interested families, willing to join us, the timing, the location just couldn't get straight in my head.
Before I knew it, my children and I were getting ready to slow travel for three days to my parents' house (where my husband would meet us), which would take us through the rest of March. In my head, I told myself that one night, after a day of traveling and children museums, before settling in to our hotel room for the night, the kids and I would get outside to catch a sunrise. My husband would miss it, but....well.....ugh. I hated that thought. But at least I had a plan.
The day before the children and I are to leave, it was a pretty tough day. As any day before a long trip, I was bogged down with to-do lists. I had a torn up house, excited children and a clouded head. Additional stress from other avenues and children who were getting upset in advance of missing their dad created a family that was out of sorts. Soon I realized this was exactly the kind of situation a sunset needed.
See, I had been spending too much time trying to create the "picture perfect" sunset watching opportunity. Finding a place, in our mountainous area, where we could catch a sunset, setting it up with the perfect time, with all our people, and it started to become too much. Too much of an obligation, too much of a commitment, too much of an event! So counter-intuitive to what this challenge is about!
With the spirit of the Outdoor Family Adventure Challenge back in mind, we did it. As soon as my husband got home, I bundled up the family, my children in their pajamas, and we headed outside, to our swing set, to catch the sunset. Was a lot of it behind trees? Yep. Did we all stare meditatively at it as it slowly dropped from view? Nope. Did we use it as an excuse to get outside and have a chance to balance our family before we'd all go in our separate ways? Yep.
As we walked back inside, heads and hearts at peace, my son said how glad he was that we did it. I agreed; it was the best moment of my day. All because I let go of the perfect picture, or perfect educational opportunity it was supposed to be, and let it be the family balancing time we needed.
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