Let me tell you how thoughtful my little girl Eloise is. She knows daddy has been making all sorts of videos lately about preparing and eating acorns. She was looking over my shoulder the other day as I was editing a video about making acorn flour, and she asked me, “What is your favorite video that you have done?”
I thought about it for a second and said, “Probably this one.” (The newest video of whatever I’m working on is always my favorite.)
She said, “It’s my favorite, too.”
A day or so later she was taken to the park by her mother. Today, she handed me this small, modest bag of acorns that she had collected for me while she was there.
Her time at the park was her time - time to lose herself in the things she likes to do and be self-absorbed. And yet, she thought of me and took the time to collect these acorns for me.
The effort for her to collect this modest amount of acorns for her at eight years old is a much greater investment than it would be for me, or you, as adults. Three weeks ago I collected about 8 times this amount, and I remember that being a big expenditure of time and energy for me.
I’m really grateful to her for this kind act of genuine love. I hope it’s a memory I never lose.
Gettin’ outta the glorious rain in the glorious backcountry with my glorious dog
I found this video interesting as it relates to conversations we have about the true nature of things, what is really important and what is not, and how little importance some things have depending on the needs of the moment.
For example, this guy and his fellow soldiers, while being shot at would just dump their blankets - the blankets were totally unimportant to the immediate goal of staying alive. This meant later suffering, but at least they were alive.
I think about this sort of thing all the time when seeing guys building elaborate, beautiful shelters in the woods. When you’re hungry and lost, or simply traveling through the wilderness, nobody is going to care about building an elaborate shelter. You’re only going to care about conserving energy and using energy for only things that are absolutely necessary in any given moment.
This means sleeping under a rock outcrop, or a fallen tree, or just trying to get through the night under your sweater and some leaves you scrounge ...
