I was listening to something today about joy.  The person I was listening to spoke of how the valleys of sadness made his joy that much better.  That without sadness, we cannot appreciate joy.  I think it’s the same catch-22 that you see with all opposites.  Non-colors like black and white – can you tell how dark the black is without the white to compare it?

But too, the thought of the joy of the mountain tops made me think of the times I used to go hiking when I was growing up.  There are a large number of mountain or hiking trails in the northeastern area in Vermont.  Or at least these trails are within a decent driving distance.  The closest hiking trail here in OK is over 2 hours away.  Kinda makes it hard to go for a hike.  That is, unless you want to take the so-called hiking trail behind a restaurant nearby – where a large number of the town’s of homeless have set up tents.  Uhh no thanks.

I’ve been thinking lately that I miss living somewhere where I can take the kids for a day outdoors without it being at a play area where you have to watch the plastic slide because the temperatures have hit 100+ for the umpteenth time in a row.  Plus, it’s not necessarily good for the kids to be out in the heat when they’re accustomed to air conditioning all day and all week.

One of these days, I’ll take the kids to the closest mountain hiking trail I’ve been on… of course that trail is in the Smoky Mountains.  My oldest and I went on a nature trail when we lived in the mountains of North Carolina.  I think my daughter would love it… the baby, well he’s just gotten into the stage where he keeps saying people’s names.  Mine, his sister’s, his dad’s and his cousin’s.  Then he says bag, backpack, bath, Nickelodeon (they watch it a bit LOL).  Otherwise this one’s a hummingbird.  Ask him a question and he hums his answer… your pick what he means 😛