The Little Things

We went climbing in Darrington on Saturday. I am not going to lie, we were hiking up past the river and I really really wanted to just hang out by the river all day. It was warm and sunny and beautiful. I was tired and desired relaxation! Instead, we bushwhacked through a thorny tunnel up to the base of the Green Giant Buttress to climb Dreamer. Of course we approached incorrectly (as did the party in front of us) and had some fun traversing and attempting to find the belay.

What the climbing day consisted of is not what I wanted to talk about. Sometimes its the little things. On the approach, I was looking at Marcs pack when I saw this stick start to move. Unlike what you think of with a stick bug where it looks like a stick but has distinctive legs coming out... this guy was more like a worm that worked its way along. It had feet in front and in back and would bring his back end to the front and then send his front end forward like some sort of army crawl. Later I saw a really cool spider and then when cooking dinner I saw an awesome caterpillar chillin on the side of the picnic table. I'm not usually one that notices all the small bugs, other than the flies and mosquitoes that won't leave me along, but for some reason, I had an eye for the little things that day.

When we were hiking down back to the trail Marc was remarking about how far I've come with my climbing and how much I can do now that I didn't used to be able too. It seems like a huge improvement, like a big change, a big deal. Well, I notice the grandness of it too, but I also know all the little steps that I went through to get where I am. The little things that are often ignored like the bugs. The little things that seemed so big at the time. The little things that combine to make the bigger thing.

The same goes for yoga, at one point I couldn't spread my toes. It took me a long time and a lot of focus to learn how to spread my toes... and it seems like such a little thing...