It has been years since I have walked the Jetty near mom’s house. It was my “thinking” spot when I was in high school. I would walk down with a good book, sit under a tree, read, and have a good “think”. It was important to me this trip to reconnect and reclaim another piece of myself and I wanted Mina to be a part of it. There is something so grounding, for me anyway, with sitting on rocks, isolated, and alone in the middle of the water.
My parents, Mina, and I decided to take a drive, search for swans, and walk the Jetty. After awhile, my dad went back to the car while Mom, Mina and I made our way to the water. I had a purpose in mind for all three of us. A re-connection with the past for me, an Empowering Present for Mom, and to instill a sense of exploration in the future for Mina.
Since I already talk about me and the Past, Let’s move onto mom. Mom is legally blind with no peripheral vision with low visual field, so scrambling on rocks is probably not something she would do on her own. In the beginning, I kind of had to push her and pull her to try. I knew with both Mina and I there to guide her, she would be able to make at least to the Jetty. It would be her decision to actually climb onto the Jetty. I left that to her. After Mina and I had climbed up and began our walk out to search for swans along the side of the Jetty, I looked back and smiled…Mom had decided to climb up, on her own, knowing she could do it, onto the Jetty. When we returned, we found mom, sitting and smiling – you could tell she was proud of herself!
Mina thrives when given a challenge just beyond her comfort zone but within safe parameter. Mom was a bit nervous that I allowed Mina to figure out how to interact with the rocks and boulders. If I allow her to explore her own way up, then she doesn’t develop the fear of falling or slipping. She did fantastic and chose more complicated paths with ease. She was so comfortable that she was leaping from boulder to boulder as we walked the jetty. She could have stayed out there all day long. This is our future. Allowing children to explore and fall in love with nature so they will work fiercely to protect it as they grow up.
We accomplished a lot in a little less than an hour. It doesn’t take much time to build an experience. But this day and memories will last forever.