Life Changing

I just returned back from my daughter’s wedding. I purposely waited to write my article for today because I knew there would be moments of time during this trip, I would be hit with an idea for a story. A nice fresh one! And yes, that’s exactly what happened.

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A little back history;

• My husband and I live in Florida
• My daughter and her new husband live in Connecticut
• They were married in the Zion Mountains in Utah

When my daughter started planning last January after her engagement in December of 2022, I kinda figured there wasn’t going to be much for me to do. Our kids these days are all over social media. Pinterest, Tik Tok, Instagram, Google and many more! They get their ideas and how to accomplish them, they don’t need our help anymore.

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I guess in some ways that’s good and in some ways it’s bad. However you feel about it, it’s really the outcome that counts.

So for me as a Mom, all I could do was pray and keep my daughter from having a mental breakdown because she was worried how it would all turn out. Sadly, she hired a planner (much to my dismay) whom didn’t take much stress off of her at all. I wanted to leave a review on her website. My daughter asked me not to.

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Utah was special to the kids because when Covid kept them inside, they went hiking outside. Through social media she met a photographer from Zion and just loved her pictures. They decided to plan engagement pictures there combined with their love of hiking. It was perfect.

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They hand picked whom they invited for the wedding. In total we were 13 of which 1/2 were X’s (LOL). She wanted;

• Beautiful wedding pictures, like her engagement pictures.
• Everyone to enjoy and get along
• Most of all, she wanted people to experience out of their element. I could be wrong, yet I think my husband and I, maybe 1 other are the adventurous, traveling type.

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We arrived a day earlier than everyone else and planned a bicycle ride 8 miles up the mountain. In fact, it was the same spot my daughter was having her ceremony. Sinawava Temple.

It was breath taking. A panoramic view in the center of the Zion Mountains. Unlike the Grand Canyon where most people look down. The Zion Mountains make you look up. You are just sucked into its beauty. At one point I remember we were cruising downhill at about 25-30 miles and I had no fear. It was almost like I had an out of body experience. It was a beautiful day and I was loving it to the max.

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By the time we finished with our 18 mile bike trip, everyone else had arrived and wanted to go on a hike.(yup LOL)

Mind you, the kids had a hike planned with the whole group the next day, through the Narrows. I’ll tell you more about that later.

We all went on a hike up Outlook Mountain. It was just incredible, yet scary. The older I get, the more my equal librium gets messed up. If I look down or too high up, I’m dizzy. And…there was one particular spot that literally had me afraid. So afraid, I was refusing to pass.

I eventually did. I didn’t get to look over the edge at the top. However, I surely did enjoy the beauty of where I was. Just overwhelming.

If our day wasn’t good enough. Just as we arrived at the bottom, we noticed some commotion in the turn around lane. As we approached closer, we saw 6 Big Horn Sheep. Gentle, Beautiful, Intriguing. Such a beautiful experience

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We ended the day with dinner and a couple of night caps.

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The next day was the day before the wedding. The kids took us and all our wet suit gear and hiking needs to a place called the Narrows. You are literally climbing and walking over rocks….in the water.

At first it was difficult and then we kinda all learned the tricks. Challenging yes, yet in an exhilarating kind of way.

The water could be anywhere from flat ground, up to the chest of the shortest person. It was insanely crazy. All this while the mountains around you are getting narrower and narrower (hence the name).

The walls were like stones of granite. Taking on so many textures, so many looks depending whether they were cast by clouds or shining by the sun. All the while just consuming the people who walk between them. The beauty is just unexplainable

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As the evening closed and we shared pictures and memories of our hike(s). Everyone was just so happy. Getting along, being respectful, having fun. In addition, everyone was so grateful to the kids for bringing them into this experience. A journey they would never have taken had it not been for my daughter and son-in-law.

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Every detail of the wedding day was perfect. From spending time with my daughter getting ready, to watching the excitement in everyones face, to experience such a loving occasion on such a beautiful day. The decorations, the music, the extra they did like making hand paddles of their cat George so he could be at the wedding. A beer pong table because that is how they met. The “shots up” as a tradition….everything. All this after two days of nothing but fresh air and beauty.

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It was life changing to all of us for our very own reason. For me, I realized the simple dream of my daughter and son-in-law changed so many lives. And then I thought “this is what we do in foot care”. 

We change peoples lives with one simple gesture of “showing them love“. Whether that’s loving the people part of your job, or the technical part of your job. Whatever passion you have for one thing in particular….it’ll come through. In my daughters case, it came through in their love of hiking.

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Life changing opportunities should be experienced by everyone. I feel like it would be good therapy in lieu of drugs. To be able to feel in the presence is simple short of amazing.

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The kids are off enjoying each other in Hawaii. The rest of us are back home to reality. A reality which looks a lot brighter now than it did before I left.

CJ Murray, President!