Strawberry Hill Hike - Learning to slow down

Last Sunday we drove about 9 miles east of Miles City to Strawberry Hill. Sean was in the mood to exert some energy and Emerson was in a paleontologist digging kind of mood. Fortunately, I was in a very slow walking mood as well, so Emerson and I strolled, well, mostly stopped to dig, while Sean hiked to the top of Strawberry Hill. Emerson kept picking up sticks and saying, "I found a dinosaur bone! Daddy gonna be so excited when he sees it!"

It can be a little challenging to get Em to move when he's in this kind of mood. I tell him, "C'mon, stop dilly dallying," and he starts cracking up at the words dilly dally. This is usually what I need when I start to get worked up about some trivial matter. It seems like I have to learn this lesson daily; I don't have anywhere to be that is crucial to our survival...relax. And so the lesson continues. Maybe tomorrow I'll learn it, at least for a moment. It has gotten easier and for that I'm relieved. When our trip first started I was wound up pretty tightly, always thinking about what needed to be done. I'm starting to feel less focused on what's next and more interested in right now. It's funny, though, even without a job, I still review my little to-do list in my mind.