Little wins that count - 1

Amid the fuzziness of chatter, alcohol and great music, I stole a day in the Cascade Mountain, one of Adirondack High Peaks with the best company ever, two eight year olds and a ten year old.

We packed a lot of snacks and water and set off with two backpacks, I carried one and the kids immediately pulled together a plan to alternate carrying the other.

Having rained for three days prior to this hike, we were not surprised to discover that the trail was muddy, but with lots of rocks in Adirondacks, of all shapes and sizes, the fun started right away as we called ourselves the 'rock hoppers'.

Few minutes into the hike we hit a creek that was probably few times its normal size, and the rock hopping was upgraded from 'fun' to 'awesome'! Every mud patch presented a new challenge and the girls took the lead in breaking the trail and shouting back which way to go. And in between, all I could hear as we climbed higher and higher was, 'this is the best day ever', and 'super awesome'.

Initially we took lots of breaks… to see poisonous mushrooms, or check out fox burrow, or shop for walking sticks… We also climbed rocks bigger than us and took a lot of pictures.

We used the tops of the surrounding mountains that we could occasionally see through the trees as a reference point to how close to the top of Cascade we were. Few times I asked people passing by how much longer we had to the top and the answers were always too long to care. Kids maintained the enthusiasm though, always encouraging each other to keep going. Then, close to the top, the mud patches turned into a mud trail that was harder and harder to avoid and soon the girls' shoes were changing from pink to black and the fun of feeling slimy inside their shoes was hard to match. Jan became slow as he tried super hard to stay clean, until finally, he slipped and joined in the fun. From then on, dropping all the carefulness, the kids were jogging up and somewhere around that time we got the news that we were approaching a clearing that some people mistake for the top but was just the first indication of what is to come.

Surely, this felt like the top of the Adirondacks to us as we sat, enjoyed the view and cracked pistachios, while drying our feet in the sun.

From there on, it took another twenty minutes or so through the bushes and over few serious puddles to get to the most amazing mountain top we have every seen! Now, this called for a run up those gigantic rocks!

Finally reaching the top I found the kids sitting sheltered from the wind and attacking whatever they could find in the food backpack - trail mix, chocolate, apples, and chatting away about which peak was the best, how we went the highest of all people in our group in all the years that we have been coming to Lake Placid. We were extremely proud of the past two and a half hours and I told the kids that they were awesome (love that word!) hikers and the best I could have picked to join me.

Then I left them to play their games while I soaked in the air of freedom.

And this is what 'Happy' looks like!

Now that we did not care about getting dirty any longer, going down was a breeze. We simply went straight and enjoyed getting our feet and shoes stuck in the mud. Girls sang on the way and went ahead as usual, every few minutes making weird animal sounds that we responded to so they knew we were following closely. Back down at the waterfall we had a whole other level of fun crossing it and our shoes were pink again!

Finally down, four and a half hours after we set off, we all agreed that this was the awesomest day ever!! And I promised the kids to take them to Whiteface some day.

This bunch I would take anywhere!

Because I am Happy...

I come from a little country in the center of Balkans where people share something great that happened to them and then immediately spit three times and always say 'neureklo se', which loosely means 'hope I don't jinx it' and then rush to bring up something unfortunate that happened to offset the great thing and thus maintain the balance of luck around them.

As I do enjoy breaking a rule once in a while I want to tell the whole world about how happy I am as this does not happen every day. So if I run into a dry spell after posting this, and sooner or later I will because I am from Balkans, I want to be able to read this to reignite what I feel today.

So, I got a big promotion at work! This is huge as I have beaten few odds to get here and now all of a sudden people are approaching me and telling me I am their role model! I want to make it clear though, luck had nothing to do with this, it was all my belief in me and my hard work. Well, on the second thought… there was a gazillion of lucky events that made those who supported me invest their time in me and carry me through the finish.

As I am celebrating I remember how it all started seven years ago when I returned to work from my maternity leave after giving birth to Ena, and realized that my job was boring and depressing, and that I had the power to change it (yes, this had something to do with religiously ensuring my kids' naps overlapped with Oprah's daily episode so I can watch it in piece). I wrote down on a note on my desktop that I wanted to be a manager in a year or something like that… and then I got off my bum and stormed into the director's office and told him I needed a change and explained how he could better use my awesome potential. So, within two weeks he got me transferred to likely the best job I will ever have in my entire career, and there I spent five wonderful years and fulfilled the wish in my note after two years, not one, but that was fine.

From then on it was all about letting go and leaving what felt too comfortable for a new challenge, and believing in myself just a millimetre more every day until I finally summoned the courage to admit to myself how great I was at what I did. And now, two new challenges later, I am in an executive role and love every minute of it even when it scares me to death.

After getting home in the evening, I told my kids about my promotion and how much it meant to me. They felt so happy for me that they started playing music and invited me to dance... And as we were jumping up and down like a bunch of crazy people, I thought to myself... Life really does not get better than this… I better spit few times, just in case.