Iwas reflecting on our adventure at Horne Lake Caves today and a flood of old memories came to me all at once.
The first real thing Cindy and I bought as a couple was our tent. It was 1990 if I recall, before we even got married. We'll be sleeping in it tonight. In '93 we bought our van, and although we're not using the van on this trip we've had some wild adventures in it and there are still a few camping trips left in it, for sure. The packs we use were wedding gifts, which makes this 15 years of faithful service and counting.
We took Ben on his first camp trip when he was two weeks old, and Robyn had her first night in the tent at four months. Since then we've camped through seven provinces and have probably spent over 100 night in our tent on mountains, lakes, prairie, ocean beaches and the Canadian Shield.
I've watched the kids grow up on these trips. They were 2 and 3 when we had a bear come through the campsite in Waskisieu. 4 and 5 when we tried to hike Mt Indefatigable in Kananaskis. 7 and 9 when we went caving for the first time in Nelson. And 8 and 10 when we went body surfing off the coast of PEI.
For all those great adventures, and all the other hikes and tours we've taken, we were always looking out for the kids, making sure they could push their boundaries but stopping before they went too far outside their comfort zone. All that changed today. For the first time,the parents, we, Cindy and I, or honestly, me. I was the constraint. The kids never had an issue at any stage of the cave tour, but there were a couple spots where I wasn't sure if I could muster up the courage to squeeze myself through a particularly tight spot. Or if my knees could bend and twist that way.
It was a scary time for a while, to think that I'm soon going to be the one told hold us up. But right now I just feel proud or the kids - proud of all they've done, and tried, and learned. They're eager to try things that give me pause, they try it, and they do well and enjoy themselveso. Who could ask for more than that?