Last weekend, camped in Newton Hills State Park, just outside of Canton, SD. We took a half day off from school and drove out Friday afternoon.

It’s a great park out in the middle of nowhere.

#whatareyoudoing

Our nephew got married here. The communication for this wedding has been less than stellar. Our daughters were not invited, we got a “save the date” but no actual invitation (we RSVPed at their wedding site), along with other things.

The park is beautiful, so we are made the best of a not-so-great situation. Saturday, we got up late, had a leisurely breakfast, then went hiking. It was a gorgeous day and we had until about 2:00 PM before we had to get ready, so why not? The park offered about 6 miles of multi-use trails (equestrian, bike, hiking), so our first stop was at the entrance to get a map.

The ranger pointed out where we were and where the wedding would be (not where we thought, but oh well), so our next stop was the lookout tower. Now, I’ve been out West and they have look-out towers that are way off the ground. This one, not so much. The trees in front of us blocked our view of the valley, so we were pretty disappointed.

So, on the map, the next place was the actual wedding venue! So we hiked down there and it was set down further in the valley and was a very nice place. Surrounded by trees and nature, it was a great place to be married. Satisfied that we could get there, we took off up on the trails, eventually running into some people on horseback trying to find their way around. We were hardly the ones to ask, but we pointed out the map right next to one of the horses. The laughter was full as they looked at each other, blaming each other for “not paying attention”.

All these words get us to a trail sign we found. We were coming back towards the campground and there was a trail sign that talked about “paying attention”, about how we step on the wildflower to get a picture of the tree, or how we miss the bald eagle because we are so focused on getting to the next point on the trail. It concluded by just saying how we need to slow down, be in the now, and just pay attention to what’s going on around us because we miss so much when our blinders are on.

I wish I’d taken a picture of the sign (I know) because it just struck me. How much DO we miss because we are so focused on the task, but not the how we get there? How many things do we step on or step over to get to that one spot, or to take that one picture? It really hit me. If we open our eyes to all that’s around us, what can we see?

We are constantly on the move, going from spot to spot, completing the task, but never being thankful for how we got there. I wish I could say I’m good at watching the journey, but I’m just as guilty as the next person, focusing on what’s in front of me, and not always seeing what’s around me. For the rest of our trip, I did open up my blinders and enjoyed life much more.

When we returned home, a teacher friend greeted me by saying, “I see you guys had fun, again, over the weekend. We are just living through you two right now.” That helped me to see that yes, when we open up, there’s much more to take in.

I hope to keep my eyes open more and just try to enjoy not only the completion of the task, but taking in all that goes into it as well! 🙂