"The Best Backpacking Trip Ever!"

or the alternative title “It’s All Fun And Games Until Someone Forgets The Water Purifier”

It’s about time that I finally post my post-backpacking trip . . . well . . . post. For those of you who didn’t hear about the change in plans, we decided not to try to hike to the Mt. Whitney summit due to some seriously unstable weather conditions. Rain, hail, thunder, lightening, and snow are five factors that none of us were particularly interested in battling just to get up to a summit that was completely socked in by clouds. And the conditions would have also meant that we would have been cold and miserable; not a great way to bond as a family. So . . . we chose a different location that resulted in the Best Backpacking Trip EVER!

Based on prior travels by brother “S” and his lovely wife “L”, we went to Kennedy Meadows just north of Yosemite. The weather was in the upper 70s and low 80s, and my pony couldn’t have been happier to be able to enjoy the fabulous weather as we hiked the trail from Kennedy Meadows to a secluded and completely AWESOME campsite along Lower Relief Reservoir. We were on top of a granite outcropping overlooking the reservoir with an abundance of water and a complete lack of other people. In fact, our first day after we set up camp, we all walked down the big granite rocks to the edge of the reservoir where we found this little niche in the side of the granite. From there we all laid back and watched the sun makes its slow trip down the sky and behind the ridge on the other side of the reservoir. This quiet moment quickly reminded me why John Muir fell in love with this area.

Now, if you think that this entire post is going to be lovely-granite-outcropping-this and surrounded-by-unimaginably-beautiful-nature-that, then obviously you don’t know me very well. And for anyone who knows me, and more importantly my family, you know that we had a ton of laughs (many at each other’s expenses) and our fair share of only-in-this-family-type moments. Allow me to summarize some of the highlights:

· I have to start off by giving some kudos to my sweet, loving sister-in-law who was able to laugh as my brother S handed her her alloted ration of toilet paper amounting to three squares. I silently patted myself on the back for bringing two half rolls (one for brother J and one for myself). We were in toilet paper heaven! Sorry L.

· The image of J passing through a portal to try and disrupt the time/space continuum was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Okay, this was really just J who noticed a really cool fallen tree and decided to crawl through it. The portal description just sort of developed from there.

· The mosquitoes on the first two days sucked! It took almost two weeks for me to stop itching. I hate those little bastards.

· There are always those things that, at least in our family, start out one way and then evolve into something even funnier. That was the case when S made a comment to me as I was trying to light the campfire. He said that one thing I could use as a fire-starter would be Old Man’s Beard (um, yeah, there wasn’t any where we were, so that was not going to help). Of course, neither J nor I could remember what it was called so on one of our dayhikes I came up with Uncle Bob’s Mustache. The name was further bastardized over the next couple of days until J finally took it to the next step and the name evolved into Grandma’s Butthairs. Yep, I love our family. We crack ourselves up.

· The bucket. Ahhh the bucket - that handy dandy little piece of collapsible equipment that was blown over the side of the granite outcropping and came to rest on a bush. And from that came the absolutely brilliant idea that S would repel down the side using some caribiners and parachute cord. Thank God they realized the danger and chose a different retrieval method.

· Wow, I had forgotten how incredible the Sierras are. The trees and the creeks and the rocks and the chipmunks and the osprey (okay, we only saw one) and the flowers and the views. I mean Wow! Yeah, ‘nuff said.

· And finally, it was only appropriate to have one slightly bad thing happen for which we could blame J. In this case, he forgot the water purifier on our second dayhike. It was alleged that his passing through the portal and disrupting the time/space continuum was the reason for him forgetting it. So what could he do to fix the situation? Duh, he was going to have to go through it backwards! And so he did. And after he did that, he didn’t forget anything else. The fact that our trip was done the next day is irrelevant.

Other than the mosquitoes, I’m not quite sure how this could have been any better. The weather was ideal, the water and firewood were in abundance, and the location was indescribable. And for the record, the wine was well worth the weight (even though pony appears to have had a little more than her fair share by the campfire!) Most importantly, the company was perfect and I have always loved being able to spend time with my brothers. This trip was no different. We laughed and we were silly and I felt so lucky to also be able to time with my sister-in-law. I always knew what a kind and loving person she is, and this trip reinforced that to the nth power. I’m glad I was able to share this with her. And God help her if after all of that she still likes us, because I think most people would run screaming from us and never look back!

Thanks S for your amazing organizational skills, your attention to detail, and your planning of our fabulous outing. Thanks J for financing my portion of the trip and coming so far to make this adventure with us. And thank you L for taking all of the pictures as well as for just being you and always smiling and laughing even when our jokes are so bad they should be illegal.

And that’s why the 2009 backpacking trip was The Best Trip Ever!

"The Perpetual Get Out Of Jail Free Card"

or the alternative title "Holy Crap, Christy's Gone Sentimental On Us...Run For Your Lives!"

I've always found it strange the phrase 'you can't pick your family.' In truth, that's only part true since you can choose your mate who may or may not have kids, or who your sibling or parent marries, etc. But for the most part, you really don't have any choice in your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...well you get the point. So then given this, what makes it the case that we are willing to forgive so often the actions of family members that we feel are wrong, or insulting or hurtful, or inconsiderate, or whatever. Why do we give family members a free pass? I know I certainly do.

At work, I'm completely the opposite. If a vendor screws up a project, I don’t use that vendor anymore. Simple.

Yet with my family, I won't utter a peep. I'll let some comment or some action go by and I'll just simmer (or try not to cry). Many a phone call has been made to our mother or one of my best friends to vent so I don't explode from either anger or hurt. Then, no more than a month needs to go by and I've forgotten what was said or done to upset me so much. In fact, I've been reminded of things that happened 6 months earlier and I only have a limited recollection, if any, of what happened. While I can remember with great detail the crappy things any ex-boyfriend did to me 10 years earlier, if it involves my family I wash it from my memory. Why is this? But the most ironic and curious part of all of this is that this blog entry was originally started after something happened that really bothered me. I was really hurt and I had a little crisis of family for a brief second (well, more like nanosecond). And now, more than a month later, I can’t remember why I was so angry. Apparently I have “Familial Short-Term Amnesia”. Yes, it’s a recognized condition. Look it up.

(I’m about to get uncharacteristically mushy – almost sentimental. Brace yourselves...)

Seriously, I wish I had an answer. I suppose it all boils down to one word: family. It's a noun (and sometimes an adjective) that has numerous definitions in the dictionary. Yet, none of the definitions I found truly convey the meaning of family. That simple word really has a greater, much deeper definition that can't be explained with words. My brothers are the world to me; my idols. Their children are my joy. And I have developed an unlimited love for each of my beautiful, sweet sisters-in-law. I would do anything and everything for any of them. No strings attached; with all the love I have. No, you won’t find a definition to explain those feelings. This definition can't be found in the dictionary; it can only be found in the heart.

In writing this, I've realized that trying to truly understand why my family means this much to me is futile. What I do understand, albeit fleetingly, is that I have an overwhelming need to have my family be happy and get along. Do I want this for the sake of my Mom? Likely. She's the same way when it comes to wanting her kids and their spouses and grandchildren to get along. Does that mean that I learned it from her? Definitely. But is this bad? Definitely not; at least I don’t consider it a bad thing. It’s just the way I am.

So, I have to ask myself: "Self? What's the point of all of this?" Well...there really is no point other than to realize that you can't answer the question: why do family's get a free pass? The answer is because. There’s no logic. There’s no quantifiable explanation. Love is just another way of saying family. It just is. Accept it.





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