A Lost "Sole"

All of our boys have gotten lost at one time or another and were always losing things when they were small.   Having William here for five weeks during June and July reminded me just how much of that losing always had something to do with him.  After he had been here for just a few days, he had stuff of his own in every room of the house and scattered outside.  He was always looking for his stuff and could rarely find any of it on his own. 

Today's story is about a time that William lost or forgot his shoes!   There's a place not real far from our house with some "prehistoric drawings."  I put that in quotes because any time someone puts the word "prehistoric" with another word, the thought of billions and billions of years pop into most people's heads.  These drawings are old, most of them anyway, but probably not as old as some scientists would rate.  Anyhow, from time to time we've gone out to the spot to hike around.  

One day in 2015 before William was heading back to the States, the missionaries from across the lake wanted to go out and see the place.  It seemed like good time for one last look for William before his travels, so we took picnic food and made an afternoon of it.  Right at the little place there is a pass between two rock walls.  On the other side of the rock wall there is a small, natural water lake.  The people on live on the bottom side of the little oasis pump down water from the top when the lake is low and no water naturally falls.  Lots of school groups from town go out to see the paintings.  Over the years the water in the little pond has been much higher and good for swimming and playing.

On this particular day William decided he wanted to climb up between the two rock walls and over the top to see the lake.  He was really into trying to do all the things he had never been able previously before he was to leave Brazil.  Uncle Bruce looked over the situation and gave some pointers...

Aunt Carol considered climbing up a ways before she gave up and came back down.  

Uncle Byron knew his limits, but gave some tips.

I was happy to sit in the shade...

Meanwhile William and Greyson went higher and higher.  

After a long while, we could see that Greyson was coming back down, but there was no sign of William.  We began to be a little concerned.  He was climbing up with no shoes on.  Uncle Byron was figuring that William had topped the crest of the pass and wasn't able or was afraid to come back down the way he'd gone up.  

There's an older man that lives on the bottom side in one of the houses there who was sort of a tour guide and would give a little talk about the place.  Uncle Byron went to ask him to point out the right direction for a trail we'd heard of to walk around to the other side.  The man put Uncle Byron on the right path and gave some instructions but wasn't very interested in stopping his lunch to go along.  Uncle Byron didn't mind and went along with Greyson and the forgotten shoes.  

Up at the top apparently there are a few houses.  William was up there debating his options:  climb down and risk his neck falling, ask some people at one of the houses to borrow some flip-flops and hunt for the trail, or walk down the very rocky and thorny trail barefoot - when Papa showed up with his shoes!  Papa to the rescue. 

Aunt Carol and I amused ourselves taking photos and getting our picnic lunch ready and listening to the old man tell some interesting stories about the area after he'd finished his lunch.

The moral of this story is never climb a cliff with your shoes off just to see what's on the other side.

William got to see the other side and lived to tell about it. I should point out that William didn't entirely "forget" his shoes.  It was easier to climb without them.  He just didn't know what to do after he'd reached his goal!