The outdoor type
There's a great song by the Lemonheads on Car Button Cloth (the very CD I was having autographed in this post) called "The Outdoor Type." The lyrics include such great lines as
I myself have never lied about my absence (not just lack, but absence) of experience in the great outdoors. I have not done much hiking, much camping, much canoeing--really, any of that stuff that can be suited up for by a trip to Cabela's. Randy, on the other hand, is very much an outdoors man. Hunting, fishing, camping, sometimes even without a tent (and that part boggles my mind), are all activities he has enjoyed.
I have been really trying to meet Randy part-way. It's been mostly for the kids' sake, I must admit. I want them to have the ease with the outdoors that Randy and his family have. I want them to be fascinated by, not frightened of, Creation.
These first two days of the Mid-Autumn Holiday we've tried to spend as much time as possible outdoors. Yesterday we hiked outside of Changyucun, still not reaching the Great Wall, but walking through a wooded area and enjoying every minute of it. Today we were in Huanghuacheng, again hiking around some "Wild Wall." So often when I find a part of a rocky trail or a steep bit of crumbled wall too challenging, Randy and I remind each other of Evan Dando's admission: I lied about being the outdoor type.
Watching the ease with which Myles tackles these same obstacles, I am thankful he is already developing into an outdoor type.
Always had a roof above me
Always paid the rent
but I've never set foot inside a tent
Can't build a fire to save my life
I lied about being the outdoor type
I myself have never lied about my absence (not just lack, but absence) of experience in the great outdoors. I have not done much hiking, much camping, much canoeing--really, any of that stuff that can be suited up for by a trip to Cabela's. Randy, on the other hand, is very much an outdoors man. Hunting, fishing, camping, sometimes even without a tent (and that part boggles my mind), are all activities he has enjoyed.
I have been really trying to meet Randy part-way. It's been mostly for the kids' sake, I must admit. I want them to have the ease with the outdoors that Randy and his family have. I want them to be fascinated by, not frightened of, Creation.
These first two days of the Mid-Autumn Holiday we've tried to spend as much time as possible outdoors. Yesterday we hiked outside of Changyucun, still not reaching the Great Wall, but walking through a wooded area and enjoying every minute of it. Today we were in Huanghuacheng, again hiking around some "Wild Wall." So often when I find a part of a rocky trail or a steep bit of crumbled wall too challenging, Randy and I remind each other of Evan Dando's admission: I lied about being the outdoor type.
Watching the ease with which Myles tackles these same obstacles, I am thankful he is already developing into an outdoor type.
Comments
And Nancy--it isn't. Everytime we are in the US, it seems, he goes through a growth spurt. I think it is the fresh air and the unlimited meat. In late May or early June we were at the Great Wall with another foreign family and their son, a year younger than Myles, was pretty close to Myles in height. When we all got back together a few weeks ago, Myles was a full head taller!