[The following is a designated ‘Laura-only‘ to-do]

I picture an ideal version of myself: someone who is well-read, well-traveled, cultured, patient, kind, adventurous, with impeccable taste in music and cuisine, can fillet a fish or pluck a chicken or shoot a bow & arrow as easily as they can crochet a pot holder or rock a baby to sleep.

Some things we will change. Some things we won’t. (I will likely never be a patient person.)

But we try. We try with enthusiasm, and humour, and an openness to failure. Because failure is essential. Failure makes us better. We try, step by step. And that’s what counts.

Along our Saugeen River paddle, I took the first steps in learning how to identify animal tracks in situ. I identified a couple successfully; got stumped on a couple others; but I’ll get better in time. Like everything else, this is a process.