I already posted pictures about our whole family hiking to Spearfish Canyon Falls last weekend, but after that was done, we drove a few miles down the canyon road and decided to hike to Devil's Bathtub.
I thought it was near the road, not realizing the hike would take the better part of two miles from where we had to park.
The weather was PERFECT--lots of snow on the trees, but the roads and paths were clear and there was no wind. I can handle cold temperatures if there is no wind.
We had to cross this stream umpteen times. This time Tim and Danny found more flat rocks to put down for the girls, especially Crystal and Caitlyn who had not thought to bring boots. The weather in both Colorado and South Dakota had been unseasonably warm and dry, and it didn't occur to them we might need boots.
Hannah in the wonderland!
I finally had to give up as I felt my legs about to give out. I was amazed I had hiked as long as I had, but I found a little rock ledge near the stream and insisted the others go on to the end, even Tim who offered to stay with me.
I sat there all by myself, arranging my gloves on the rock so it wouldn't feel quite so cold and damp to sit on, and I was thinking about urging my family to go on without me. I thought if later this cancer journey leaves me out of the picture, I would want my family to have experience in going on with life without Mom.
Tim had a different idea. He was thinking about his mom, still living, sitting back there all alone, and next thing I know, he is appearing again from the trees and path across the stream. He starts back across the stream, calling, "Would you mind if I stayed with you?"
Did I mind?
Not in the least. It meant a lot to me, and I tried to tell him what I'd been thinking, and how, after Mama Lucas died, Jonathan tried to decide if he should go ahead with the elk hunt he had planned. His dad and other siblings were the ones planning to meet with the funeral director.
"I can just hear Mama saying 'Oh, just go ahead and hunt!" Jonathan said.
And he decided to go ahead with the children with the elk hunt--resulting in Jonathan bagging an elk the first night of the hunt!
He felt very blessed, and I never forgot a mom having the reputation for wanting her children to just go on with plans and be happy.
It gave us something to do and talk about while waiting that dreadfully long week before the funeral.
Now a few years later, I'm waiting behind because of weakness and cancer and chemo, and I am trying to pattern my life after an unselfish mother-in-law as well as my mom, too, and other Bible figures and Christian mothers who want to have the best for others.
I didn't know that was where I was going when I first started writing this post, but suffice to say, mother and son had a lovely chat while waiting about half an hour for the others to return.
And while they got to see and snap photos of Devil's Bathtub, a son and I got to visit beside the
stream,
and I think angels hovered over both places at once.
They always do.
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