Life Lesson Monday

Going down the side of the mountain may seem like a foolproof shortcut.

It's not.

We had been hiking a fairly gentle mountain trail, enjoying the scenery, the company, and the general pleasantness of it all. After some time, the consensus was reached that, in everyone's best interest, it was time to head back.

As the unofficial leader of our expotition (those of you unacquainted with Pooh terminology, forgive me), I brought forth a brilliant, efficient plan for getting back to camp.

Start here, walk straight down, and camp will be somewhere at the bottom.

Simple and effective.

Why bother following the long, winding trail back the way we had come?

And so, with little objection from the weary party (ha!), our plan of action was decided.

My way put us getting there a lot faster, and with a lot less energy spent.

Or it was supposed to, anyways.

It ended up costing about the same amount of time, and a lot more energy.

Worry is more wearying than hiking up hills and around bends. :P

For one, there was some brush that was harder to deal with than I thought it would be.

Another thing - I seem to be directionally challenged. I thought I knew approximately what direction we should go in. Don't ask why I was so confident. I have no idea. But a couple minutes into the journey back, and we were all completely clueless.

"Uh, Caitlin, are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Um... nope."

"Oh. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"Um... yeah. That's what I was thinking."

"Anybody see the trail?"

"Hey, I think that's the tree we saw earlier!"

"No, I think I've seen 3 trees like that."

It's just a little unnerving to be leading a group of your friends around the side of a mountain, none of you having any idea where you are.

Yeeeah.

Fortunately, it was a very smallish sort of mountain, and we finally did stumble onto part of the path we had been on earlier, thus following it back to the beginning.

And now I know.

There are times for straying off the beaten course.

Tramping the woods on an unfamiliar mountain is not one of those times.

Life Lesson Monday

Check the roses for bugs before you go "drinking them in."

"I stopped by the barrens and picked these Mayflowers; I came through Violet-Vale; it's just a big bowlful of violets now -- the dear, sky-tinted things. Smell them, Marilla -- drink them in."

Marilla sniffed obligingly, but she was more interested in Anne than in drinking violets."

-Anne of the Island (L.M. Montgomery)

Once upon a time there was a vase of roses. We had cut them fresh from our rosebush, placed them in water, and set them on the dining room table, where they could be enjoyed. And enjoy them I did, until the incidence inspiring this life lesson.

Oh, they smelled so pretty! I paused to really focus on them, to truly appreciate their delicate scent.
Leaning forward, nose almost touching the frail, red petals, I inhaled deeply. Very deeply.
Then I ran shrieking to get a tissue.

Stupid tiny bugs.
In case you were wondering, it is a little unnerving to have a nose full of minuscule insects.
And I'm very sorry I don't have a picture of the incident.

Instead, here's a nice photo I took of a floral arrangement.

Life Lesson Monday

If you get dizzy easily, you probably shouldn't yell for the guys to spin the merry go round faster.

It's true. You might end up feeling sick for an hour or two.

Swinging on a playground swing makes me dizzy. I should have known.
But I hadn't so much as seen a merry go round for years, so instead of thinking, I climbed on. Holding tight, I waited for that feeling I remembered as a child. The exhilaration of spinning faster than you think possible, the pull of the centrifugal force,
the crazy, giddy swirl of colors and sounds.
But we weren't going fast enough. The girls just weren't cutting it.
Summons the strapping young men! I recall issuing a command to spin us faster.
And they did.
And then I remembered the feelings that come shortly after the exhilarating part.
The terrifying dread of being flung to the ground, of closing your eyes tightly,
shutting out the spinning images, and praying you won't be sick.

I believe I yelled something to the effect of, "please, stop this thing NOW or I'm going to be sick!"
It seemed to take ages for things to stop swirling, and I felt very sick and out of sorts for quite some time afterwards. I think my brain was addled. Haha...

So, now you know. And reliving the moment has made me feel yucky.
May you learn from my mistake.

Lessons from the Life of Caitlin

Monday is now Life Lessons day. (insert applause)
Every Monday, I will be sharing with you something I have learned from experience. And, please, this is Caitlinesque, don't expect anything too deep. Maybe I should start doing one serious post a week, too, or something.

But anyways, I'm not really liking my title for this weekly installment. I want it to be catchy... What do you think?

So! Life Lesson for Week #1:

~Strawberry shampoo does not taste as good as it smells~
It's true. As a matter of fact, it tastes pretty darn nasty. It just doesn't make sense for something to smell so amazing, and not be palatable.

As a small child, I loved strawberry shampoo. Oh, it smells so yummy. I knew I shouldn't taste it, because it wouldn't be good. I'd accidentally tasted soap before, and it was nasty. Then, someday when I was relatively older, quite old enough to resist the temptation (but not recently... I don't remember when), I just had to see what it did taste like. I knew it wouldn't be good. And it was nasty. Of course.

But now I know. And now you know.
No matter how good it smells, don't taste the strawberry shampoo.
And since I couldn't find a picture of Little Me taking a bubble bath, here's a picture of me looking scary in a floaty suit.

-Me