My Summer

So I am kind of wondering what do people do during the summer? For the past few summers I have been canoeing in the middle of nowhere with five-six other girls. This last summer it was six. I go to this YMCA camp, camp Menogyn. It sends out canoeing, backpacking and rock climbing groups. I started going six years ago. I slowly went on longer and longer trips. This last summer was my last summer as a camper. My group did a fifty day whitewater canoe trip in Nunavut, Canada on the Dubawnt, Kunwak and Kazan rivers. We were in the sub-arctic tundra. Throughout the school year, my heart longs for the simplicity of trail. I find myself longing for some of the amenities I have at home, while out on trail. I constantly find myself reminding myself to live in the present and to enjoy where I was while I was there. I learned to appreciate the beauty of where I was. I think the thing that really hit me while I was on trail, was how much I missed my family. I realized that I had gotten much closer with my mother this past year and how much not having my father around hurt me. I became very homesick. I was very happy to return to my family even if that meant leaving the wonderful and gorgeous lands of the tundra. I miss Nunavut very much, however, the mountains of Seattle are providing a wonderul escape to the scenery of the great lakes. It's a very different perspective, extremely different landscape. I traded incredibly flat lands and endless skies for tall, never-ending mountain ranges and the gorgeous snow-capped peaks along with the beautiful hikes and views I will experience while I live here.

I just need to remember to live in the moment. That is my only issue. Live in the moment. Don't take beauty for granted. Believe in myself. Don't bother with some of the amenities of life today. The style of life we lead in the present is extremely hectic, complicated and stressful.