Why is the unknown so scary?
Cole taught me an important lesson today. We’re both apprehensive in our own ways, with very different fears and anxieties between the two of us. When it comes to nature and getting outdoors, this kid never ceases to amaze me. We were hiking in our own neighborhood when we came across a path into the woods.
We started out on the path and about 50 feet into it, I tried to persuade him to turn around because I had no idea where it led. He said “Mom, come on!” and convinced me to follow him. Twice more during our adventure I asked him if we could turn around (silently keeping track of the way) but he encouraged me to “have a VENTURE mom” and I kept going.
We followed the path for about a mile and came to a little stream behind someone’s house on our own street! We were safe the entire time and not even that far from home, but I let the unknown get the best of me for a moment.
Here’s to four year olds leading the way from now on. What is so dang scary about the unknown?!
Editor’s note: I shared my location with JTS during the walk just in case. Who knows if he would have come to look for us, but it made me feel better.
