A few years ago Joseph & I celebrated our anniversary by hiking Mt. Rainier.
One of my most favorite places in the world is this national park. If I could live there, I would.
We were ambitious.
We would hike in the first day (about 15 miles) & camp out on the mountain. For those of you not familiar with wilderness back packing, I’ll give you a brief primer: you hike all day (until your legs feel like jello), you carry all your food, sleeping, & camping gear on your back, & then at the end of the day you sleep somewhere so remote if the bears got you, no one would know.
We had a fabulous time.
Aside from the huge mistake of bringing canned, yes *canned* food (those extra few pounds might as well have been 50 by the time we were three or four hours in on the first day), we found a camping spot next to a creek & enjoyed the seclusion, the proximity to nature, & the very romantic idea that it truly was just the two of us (except for maybe the cougars).
But….
This is a big but. The first 8 hours or so of our hiking excursion? We thought–this is a horrible idea!
Sure, it was nice to be outdoors, but the novelty wore off after about two hours hiking straight up a mountain with 40 lb. packs (filled with nonsense like canned food).
We trudged along.
It was hot.
There were mosquitoes.
We didn’t think we were going to make it. We took breaks every so often & even feel asleep on the side of the trail. Perhaps we’re pathetic hikers. That doesn’t take away from our experience that it was just plain hard.
However, once we reached our camp that first night, all the misery was forgotten. We couldn’t stop marveling that we were so close to the mountain, & how awesome it was to be there.
I’m telling you this because this is how I feel about the last few months with the blog.
Finishing up ebooks & creating my store has been nothing short of miracle.
I’ve done 95% of all the work behind the ebooks & shop creation. I have no training in coding, programming, or website development. I’ve had to become self-taught in all sorts of ridiculous minutia, all the stuff most people don’t know or don’t care to know about.
The books, the shop, this blog–it’s all handcrafted by me, & it’s not a small amount of work. All the while I’ve had meals to prepare, kids to care for. I don’t have a nanny.
This is not me complaining.
In fact, this is me saying–I’ve reached the top of the mountain! (Or at least the summit.) I finished something I’ve been working on for a long time. I can exhale. I can sit back & enjoy the scenery.
The bring joy shop is now open for business.
♥
(Missed the pre-launch savings? Not to worry, save 10% on any bring joy shop purchase through 6/17 by entering the code june10 at checkout. Also, you might want to check out my saver bundles & my ultimate saver bundles to save even more.)
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