The shoe-less hike

We had escaped to hike, a Mother’s Day celebration.

I was depleted, finishing a 7-day stretch of hospital medicine in the new world order – face masks, globs of hand sanitizer, lonely patients, and some conversations reduced from in-person to tablets.

So depleted, in fact, that I worried if I could muster energy to make Mother’s Day special for my wife.

“Get the kids ready, pack them in the car,” I texted as I left the hospital.

I knew if I could avoid slumping into a chair or onto a bed, I had a chance.

So it went – “Dad’s home” followed a minute later by the car starting our escape into the Sandia Mountains that shadow our city of Albuquerque.

We arrived. The ritual of checklist that comes with having four children began. Water bottles? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Hats? Check. All children present? Check.

All looked to be in order until my personal check. Shoes? Shoes? In my haste to leave, I had left shoes behind.

Leaving me with a quick decision to make. Option 1: Smile and enjoy a shoe-less hike, saving our Mother’s Day adventure from crashing to a halt. Option 2: “Everyone back in the car. Wave to the hike that would have been.”

Option 1 is our world.

Making the best out of the less-than-optimal, far-from-normal options. Option 1 is virtual 

birthday parties, graduations, and weddings. Option 1 is our decision not to give up, not to give in, but to get creative.

So we hiked. Passerbys trying not to stare too long at my socks. A few made jokes. One family with young children asked “What happened to your shoes?” as they headed up the trail as we made our way back to the car.

“A bear just jumped out of nowhere and snatched them. Said he wanted Nikes.”

The “really??” look on the faces was a small victory for my defeated feet, stinging from the rocks and roots incessantly poking from underneath. My wife, citing social decency and Navajo tradition that says by naming an animal you call them to you, gave me that look, ending my shoe-less victory dance.

My feet survived, the hike was saved, and Mother’s Day happened. Maybe my feet were even strengthened by the uncomfortable experience.

Today will give us such moments, with an Option 1 in each case that does not feel like the right answer, but which is the best option.

Pick Option 1. Be proud. Get excited for what this path might hold. Feel free to laugh - at yourself, at your feet, at the moment - if needed.

Option 1, as a friend reminded is simply this: “Don’t fight the current, find the current and flow with it.”

My 5 biggest motivations to go with Option 1 (from L-R are my wife Shannon, son Bah'hozhooni, and daughters Nizhoni, Sihasin and Shandiin)