Mother's Day Hike

Jack's Mother's Day gift to me was a family hike. We went on Saturday afternoon after a very busy morning, and we were headed up Highway 2. After winding through the mountains for 45 minutes, we hit a road block about a mile before our trailhead because of a motorcycle accident. We were going to hike to a pretty waterfall! I suppose it's probably dried up because of the drought anyway. I was on the brink of frustration, but Jack coaxed me out of my disappointment and we stopped at a vista point and explored around there a little bit instead. It actually worked out great because we ended up crossing paths with some Pacific Crest Trail hikers who were just stopping for the day after hiking 18 miles! Ever since I read the book Wild about two years ago, I've been a little obsessed with the trail - I follow some PCT hikers on insta and every now and then I mentally calculate how many years til my youngest child will leave home, leaving me free to take a 6 month hike :) I was totally star struck and asked them so many questions. They were from Texas and this was their first time to CA. They were about 400 miles in and they still had about five months to go! Cross my heart, hope to die, I am doing this in my fifties in between my children's weddings and my grandchildren being born, and if I take Jack can he get permission to bless the sacrament on the trail? ;) I think the best time to have gone would have been at age 19 before any of life's obligations got in the way. Will it feel too selfish at age 52 to leave my husband, children, grandchildren, and church calling for six months? Just to spend every day, all day, by myself, serving only myself? These are the questions I will ponder for the next thirty years! Anyways, it was a great afternoon and we explored some campgrounds and have plans to go back in two weeks to camp and hike to that danged waterfall!