As a father of two daughters, I am filled with emotion each and every day. Love, pride, fear, hope, anxiety--all of these are natural, and at times it seems as though I am experiencing them all at once. Today I decided that I was going to take a hike through one of the state-managed land areas near my house. The purpose of this hike was twofold. First I hoped to get some pictures to post here on steemit. Second, I wanted to scout the area for hunting season later this year. Although I do not have the most discerning photographer's eye, I wanted to try. One thing joining this community has forced me to do is to get out of my comfort zone and try things (such as photography) that I would never have dreamed of.
But I digress.
As I'm packing my backpack with the items that would allow me to be in the woods for a couple of hours, my youngest daughter walks up and asks if she can go. Oh crap! Here come those pesky emotions again.
ADD ALERT.... Side note about my youngest (we call her Olli bug.) She has a not-so-rare genetic disorder called Noonan's Syndrome. If you wanna know more about it here's a link http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/947504-overview
Back to the story...I thought, what a great chance to spend some father daughter time with my Olli bug. What didn't cross my mind was that it is hot, and as a condition of her syndrome she suffers from cardiomyopathy which lowers her tolerance to heat as well as prevents her from participating in strenuous activities. So I told her to throw on her tennis shoes and out the door we went.
So here we are at the trail head to begin our journey.
Down the main trail head we started walking
After a few minutes we came to an area where wildfires had burned through a portion of the park.
She found this very upsetting and asked why wildfires were so mean. I laughed and we stepped into the shade to enjoy some cool water. I explained to her that one benefit of wildfires is that they help the forest by giving the plants a chance to regrow. That seemed to make her happy. After our little water break, we continued down the trail and took a path that led into some older growth, mostly oak trees and palmettos.
We only made it down this path a little ways and came across some flowers that she pointed out, so I took a few photos
We walked a bit more and came out to a clearing that could only be described as true Florida scrub growth.
It was at this point in our walk that she became tired and wanted to retreat to the air conditioning and her computer so she could video chat with her friends. (She is so much more tech savvy than her old man.) We turned around and walked back out the way we had come. She yammered on about her favorite YouTube channel and the three cats the family owns.
Once home I felt that I had not accomplished what I had set out to accomplish because the hike had been cut short. But I had an experience that I'm sure most fathers and mothers would agree is truly more priceless:
I got to make that memory of a father and his daughter walking in the woods talking to each other.
Until we meet again stay safe and be vigilant