Lump in my throat

A few months ago I saw a great Groupon for rock climbing and I bought two of them so I could take Maya with me. Thankfully she didn't inherit Aric's fear of heights, so on Saturday I took my girl climbing.

She LOVED it!!!!

(Can you see the giant smile on her face)

We took a class together, which was good. I needed to brush up on my knot skills. The first time the instructor had Maya belay me, she was freaking out. She kept saying "Mom, I don't want to drop you!" "Mom, I'm so scared I'm going to hurt you!". The instructor...who looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo with funky glasses...kept assuring her, and me, that it would be fine. The first three times were a little nerve wracking but we didn't climb too high so it was fine. Once the class was over the instructor thought Maya needed one more class to become certified and was pretty much telling me that I was climbing at my own risk with her belaying me. 

After class it was time to climb. Maya was a little uncomfortable the first big climb she stopped 2/3 the way up and said "K Mom, I'm good." I encouraged her to keep going and she made it all the way up. After that there was no stopping her! Off she went. She was a monkey flying up the wall! There was a 20 year old girl next to us just watching in amazement. 

After a few runs she was tired and wanted me to climb. I did cautiously, and she did a great job belaying me. And after that she was a pro. We spent the next hour and a half taking turns belaying each other.

I took this picture of her belaying me. I didn't want to forget the moment. I couldn't get the visual of my two year old Maya playing with her dolls and here she was a young woman belaying me!!! I was sharing something I loved with her and she was loving it too. It was too perfect of a moment.

There were many times when she was climbing that she would get stuck and didn't know where to place her foot or hand and because of where I was standing I could see exactly where she should go. It made me think of how this is what I have been doing all her life and I will be doing for the rest of her life...Because of my life experiences and the paths I've walked, I have a different perspective than she does. I can see things she can't see. I can see the safe path, and when she gets stuck I can tell her where to go. I had a lump in my throat and a smile on my face the whole time. Being a mom is the hardest thing ever, but the most rewarding thing I will ever do. A lot of the time it is draining so, SO draining, but in this moment it was pretty much awesome.

**We did not mean to match we got dressed separately and Maya threw a sweatshirt on top of her t-shirt. We even had matching black yoga pants! Kinda funny