Last Tuesday my trip up North looked to be falling apart with my friend bailing on me at the last minute (No hard feelings).  I knew that I still needed to go and I was prepared to head up North to the upper Northwest part of Michigan. I was disappointed to be heading out by myself, but everything changed when I decided to ask my son Quinn if he wanted to go with me. 

Life has an amazing way of taking what looks to be cascading events of negativities and can change everything with just one positive thought or idea. Asking Quinn to go with me was that positive idea. 

The time we spent together was not just a father / son bonding time. This was time spent truly learning from each other. Our conversations were deep and thought provoking. There was no talk of politics or Covid-19. We talked and shared with each other what we thought it took to be a good human being. What it meant to have empathy in your heart and soul for others. We spent time laughing at our own silliness. We spent time together quietly. We took different paths on the trails that know one else was taking. When people turned around because of the rain on Friday, Quinn and I went further. This was a time to explore and that meant not letting inconveniences get in the way. We made ourselves light in nimble with the way we chose to camp, while others brought their condo tents and half of the household goods. We both realized that we  need more of this kind of time and adventures in our lives with each other.

I told Quinn on the way home that the thoughts he had in his head that were hard to put into words on how he felt about this time spent together meant that real positive growth was happening inside him. I told him that these feelings that he has inside are the same as I have. I told Quinn that it is a goal of mine to have to have these types of feelings as much as possible in my life. It meant that you would have to search high and far to find the words that fit to describe and sometimes those words take a long time to find. This meant that you were thinking at a deeper level. It meant that you were going beyond superficial thoughts and digging deeper for meaning. I was proud to see how my son embraced this way of thinking and living. As long as I do what I am supposed to do and keep nurturing this attitude towards life there is no telling what Quinn will be to accomplish in life. As it says in the book Peter Pan "That was a great adventure" 

Thanks for reading and as always your thoughts are welcome.