Daddy's Adventure Story

(Posted 04/16/06 by McP)

Last Saturday morning I took Alina and Mac on a hike, up on top of the big ridge behind my parent's home in Graysville, Georgia. There the Georgia-Tennessee state line spanned a beautiful series of hilltop cattle grazing fields when I was growing up, and due to announced development of the property, I wanted to take the kids there before it all became just another suburban Chattanooga extention into Georgia.

The problem was, the field just before the old panoramic vista point had largely become a vast multi-acre briar patch. I led the children into it, but it soon became more than a six year old and a five year old (and a 46 year old) could handle. I ended up picking them both up - no small task - to try to walk the rest of the way. They each weigh about fifty pounds! Then the briars started getting higher. When Alina got snagged on the hand, I put everything and everyone down to rest in the only two by two foot area I could hold the briars down with my feet.

Mac started crying and I felt like a terrible parent.

I decided to pick them up again (mind you I was also by then carrying Alina's pink "Barbie" backpack, as well as three bags from Subway for our "outback" adventure). The Subway bags were being ripped to shreds by the briars, and I had to occasionally stop to collect the dropped sandwiches, chips and drinks.

When we got to the middle of the briar field I knew we had to keep going. Finally, I had no other choice but to make sure the kid's legs were hanging at my front and not my sides, and to protect them I walked backwards the rest of the way through the briar field. I could feel the denim and cotton, and occasionally skin, ripping from my legs and back. Alina was talking extremely loudly (apparently the only volume she can) in one ear, attempting to give me directions, while Mac quietly sobbed in my other ear.

We finally made it to the clearing and then on to the crest of the hill. Later on, as things settled down and we enjoyed what was left of the Subway lunch, I was trying to make a point about how hard it would be to live in the wild. We talked about the pioneers that settled this region, and the Native American presence by the Cherokee and Creek Nations.

I asked both of the kids what item they think they would need most to live in the woods, expecting them to want a television or one of their favorite toys.

Alina's answer: "An axe." I thought that was pretty smart and resourceful for a six year old.

Then Mac looked me over as he offered his opinion for the one item he felt most important: "Tweezers."

That's my boy.

McP