Peaks and Valleys – Being a Parent 

“The days are long but the years are short” – Gretchen Rubin

This analogy may make more sense to me because I grew up in the Colorado high country. Parenting to me is like you’ve just spent all day climbing to the top of the mountain. You get to the summit and the view is amazing. It’s the most amazing view you’ve ever seen. You can see miles and miles in all directions. Then you trip and start tumbling down the mountain. You try to stop but before you know it you’re back to the bottom of the mountain. What do you do? You start climbing the next mountain. The view is just as amazing! It’s so incredible and then BAM! You’re falling again… That’s my parenting analogy.

This weekend kicked our collective ass. This time last week we were on our way to urgent care because Willy was really sick. Not sure about you but that’s not the way I imagined spending a Friday night. Come to find out he’s got a double ear infection. Which explains why he was in such a lethargic mood the previous few days. Who wouldn’t be?

Oh, you thought that was the bad part? The tumbling down the mountain part? Nope, not even close. Let’s focus on the view first. Even though we got our ass kicked this past weekend there were a lot of good things. Like learning that a lot of parents go to the urgent care on Friday nights. Not sure why that’s a good thing but anytime I know we’re not alone it makes me feel better. Kaiser has a great staff. No, I’m not kidding, really great staff. The nurses were awesome and so were the doctors. It was amazing to see them in action. I know what you’re saying. Really Dusty, that’s the best view you’ve ever seen? Nope, not at all. That was just like you get to the top of the summit to realize it’s the false summit. For most that is demoralizing. For me, it’s an accomplishment…it’s just not the one we were hoping for. This was our false summit. We got antibiotics and we thought we were good to go. Then Saturday happened. Willy wouldn’t eat from a bottle. Which is almost like tumbling back down to the false summit, but we have an ice ax (that’s another one of my analogies, click here) Luckily, Liz is an RN and I’m a trainer so we know how important hydration is. So, instead of trying to force it with a bottle we just went to feeding him with a syringe. Which is a slow monotonous process just like scaling the last bit of Mt. Everest. It’s never ending. Then we made the summit…

Carson had his first ice skating lesson. This was the first time he’d been on the ice without me. He just walked up and the instructor grabbed her hand and he was off. No tears. No screaming. He just went with it. I was so proud of Carson.  I mean over the moon proud. Maybe the proudest moment since becoming a dad. It was so cool to see him slip and fall and get back up. He had a few really hard falls but he shook them off. I could go on and on. This was my epic view. This was my summit. The rest of the weekend. The climb to the top didn’t matter. Yes, the climb hurt but the pain is temporary.

“Parenting is the easiest thing in the world to have an opinion about, but the hardest thing in the world to do”. – Matt Walsh

What I should say though is what I learned was more about my own feelings and emotions. The anxiety about the situation, beforehand, was so great that I was sure he was going to kick and scream. I had built it up so much in my head that I was going to have to fight him or bribe him. Nope, that Lil’ dude just went right out there and didn’t cry. Another great proud dad moment. As I always say there are always peaks and valleys as parents. The view from the peaks makes tumbling back down to the valley completely worth it.

Then the trip and fall came. The rest of the week was climbing to the top of the next mountain and tumbling back down. Then climbing up again. We thought Willy didn’t want the bottle because of his ears. Oh, boy were we wrong. Tuesday afternoon we tumbled back down. Willy wouldn’t drink his bottle and really didn’t want actual food. That’s when his school noticed a blister on his tongue. I won’t bore you with the details but sitting back writing this down I feel exhausted. I feel physically and mentally exhausted. This week kicked our collective ass. This week felt like we climbed up more times than I could ever imagine. That view, though. Seeing Willy’s little smile. Seeing Willy turn back into himself was the best view. Seeing him giggle again. That made all the tumbling worth it.

As I always say there are peaks and valleys as parents. The view from the peaks makes tumbling back down to the valley completely worth it.

It’s worth it. It’s always worth it. Like the post? Please subscribe and let me know in the comments. Hate the post? Think I’m crazy? Tell me in the comments.