this afternoon, in light of the beautiful weather, i decided to take a hike (pause for reaction).
there is a historical monument in my town that sits at the top of a hill. john rankin lived in this house with his family many years ago and freedom seekers would bravely cross the ohio river from kentucky to seek solace at his home on their quest for freedom. there are two ways to get to the top of this hill. you can drive up (safe, low-chance of you getting sweaty, and fast) or you can take the path the freedom seekers took (not-as-safe, high chance of perspiration, and takes a while). feeling brave (and guilty about the chicken and waffles i had this morning) i decided to take the path of the freedom seekers. the path begins at what is seemingly the top of a hill. yes, that is right: you climb a hill before you climb another hill. a hill within a hill. the path has some rocks to help guide you but it is very steep and slippery. i stopped at one point and considered how long it would take people to find my body if i didn't come home. after you hike up the rocky woodsy part of the path you get to the steps. there are A LOT of steps. the entire journey takes you higher and higher and just when you think you are absolutely done for you see it: a tiny red house on a hill. you have never seen such a beautiful red house before, i assure you. i love rankin hill. i love to sit and look out over the river: seemingly endless in both directions. it makes me feel small. doesn't it feel good to feel small sometimes? i think it's good for the soul to feel small. now, you may think the toughest part of this little hike is over but you'd be wrong and here's why: gravity. as you're walking down the hill it gets steeper and steeper and you begin to wonder "why am i moving so fast?" i thought this for about a second before completely wiping out. i lost my placement and my foot slipped jolting me forward. as i was falling i grabbed on to a tree on my left side and i flung around that sucker so fast you would have thought i was reaching for justin timberlake (he wants me). you know that feeling you get when you're falling? i hate that feeling. it's like you're going to throw up and your stomach is going to fall out of your butt and your heart is going to explode all at once. however, nothing feels better than reaching out for something in that moment and finding stability. whether it's a person or a tree something catches you and you're safe again. i took a few minutes to relax and i got to thinking about falling. how much it sucks but how necessary it is in this life. when my kids fall at recess the first thing i tell them before i even know the extent of their injury is, "you're ok." why? because we need to be told that sometimes, especially when we've fallen. we need to be reassured that everything is alright: that we are alright. what i love about my kids is that the pain and the fear that come with falling don't keep them from playing even after they've been hurt. as adults i think we're all terrified of falling because we're so fearful of getting hurt. we let that fear keep us from doing things. we let that fear keep us from living. fear is debilitating. today i fell. i got hurt just a little. i have cool little bruise on my ankle where i rammed into a tree. i am ok. and you know what? you are too. go fall down, people. get hurt. get bloody and bruised and be reminded, as i was today, that though you are little you are alive. and you were not made to live in the confinement of your fears. until next time, ld
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