I am getting ready for this weekend’s elk hunt. You might think I am packing up my gear or washing camo and I will be doing all of that soon, but since I am a mother of three little awesome tornados, my getting ready for a hunting weekend looks a lot different than it used to. I am actually descending a mountain of kid laundry and am very eager to reach the bottom. How do they produce so much filth? I want to head off to the wilderness knowing that I left their Grandma with clean kids, a clean house and the best start possible. That means a lot of cleaning and prep on my part including getting plenty of milk in the freezer for the baby and all his blankies, bottles and clothes washed and put away. Once I leave the driveway, all the prep stress will go away and I will be ready for another mountain adventure. I will always have the kids in the back of my mind. I think it is impossible for a mom to not be wondering what they are up to or how they are doing. I am thankful to have good family who are willing to take on the workload so I can have some time in the woods. I love filling my lungs with that crisp fresh air. It is like taking a huge gulp of ice cold water on a hot summer day. It quenches your physical thirst in a way only mountain air can. It makes me feel alert, alive. I know when I get home to the kids and the mountain of laundry has rebuilt itself and the baby has soiled all his blankies, I will be able to tackle them with renewed fervor because of my outdoor adventure. Hopefully I will be bringing home another butchering project as well to add to my already full to do list. Do I get tired? Yes. Is it sometimes overwhelming? Oh yeah. Is it worth it? YES. I would rather have a life so full of blessings that I can’t keep up with them all than a life perfectly organized because I have nothing to fill it with. I have to remind myself of that some days but in the back of my fried brain, the fact is there ringing true. I just seem to hear it better after a few days in the great outdoors.