Email this article

A Lesson from Wall Arch

By Susan Oloier

Found in: | Outside | Hiking |

In August of 2008, Wall Arch collapsed. While this is old news, it caused me to reflect on the impermanence of things: weather, economic security, youth, and moments with the kids. Arches National Park naturally fell into this realm of thought.

We all know of the inevitable demise of the amazing fins, monoliths, and arches located in the park. Wind and the elements slowly wear away the Entrada and Navajo sandstone. And it was a process - a journey - that created the beauty that we enjoy today. When we gaze at these phenomenal creations of nature, the mutability of the formations is not usually in the forefront of our minds; it will happen someday, but probably not in our lifetimes - certainly not today. Many of us live under the premise that the unavoidable likely will not happen to us - at least not in the near future. The collapse of Wall Arch proved us wrong.

The ongoing erosion that causes change within the park seems to stand in parallel to the transformations in our children, as well. This, too, is something we tend to ignore. It seems as though many of us - myself included - need to work harder at appreciating the moment.

When my husband Jeff and I first took our two sons to the park, Justin, our oldest, rode in a Kelty carrier. He even broke out in song: "Mommy is a great woman! Sing with me!" Now, almost five, Justin prefers to walk on his own. It was a tremendous accomplishment the first time he hiked the more than a mile back from Broken and Pine Tree arches. Self-sufficient travel is the way to go for him. And long gone are the positive Mommy declarations, especially performed in song. Where did my little boy go?

Zane, who has a chromosomal disorder, was pretty small when he was born. We started hiking with him when he was two months old, so he fit compactly into a rebozo (a Mexican scarf that can be used as a baby sling). Most people didn't know who or what was tucked away inside of it. "What? Is that a cat in the bag?" one man declared. Another woman questioned whether I was toting a dog on the hike. As an infant, he was an ideal hiking companion; he almost always fell asleep. Now that Zane is two, he travels in a Snugli where he can witness the world around him. Sometimes he approves of the scenery. Other times, he protests. The days of snuggling with him in the rebozo are long gone. Most importantly, Zane is never mistaken for a cat or a dog anymore. I never fully appreciated all of these special moments because I remained too focused on the bigger picture: getting to the much-anticipated arch, rather than enjoying the journey.

Many of us are guilty of striving for a goal: making it to the summit, arriving at the waterfall that ends the hike, even looking ahead to the end of a day. We often fail to appreciate the journey that gets us there. We sometimes overlook the outburst of song that happens during the hike; the intimate moments with our children that cannot be replaced. They grow older, and their ideal visions of us as parents sometimes dissolve into mere tolerance.

The erosion that takes place in Arches is expected. We may develop a fondness for a particular arch, so that its collapse proves devastating. Yet, it is natural. In the same way, the changes that our kids undergo are also part of the process of life. We may grow attached to a particular stage in our children's lives, but change is inevitable in whatever form in takes. Just as Wall Arch was and is no more, so are the various stages of our children. We can capture these moments in photographs or memories but we cannot replace them. So we should learn a lesson from all of this: appreciate what we have while it is here, lest it fall away just as Wall Arch did.

Monday, April 06, 2009
at 10:35:40 PM

Suggest removal

judy says:

...the journey is the destination, no?