One year...

...can make all the difference in the world.

Alyssa has been an avid hiker since she was three. Her love of climbing and her ability to do so has been one of her earliest attributes. She has always been incredibly adept at climbing and has never had any fear of doing so. Alyssa's biggest deterrent when it comes to hiking and climbing has always been her size. When Alyssa started hiking at the age of three, she was in the 0th percentile for her height and weight. Alyssa was still in 18 month clothing at the age of three. She's never let it stop her, but there were some obvious obstacles that just couldn't be overcome. Bolders that couldn't be topped. Iron rungs that couldn't be reached.

The first time Alyssa did Borestone Mountain, the people heading up the mountain thought we were crazy for taking her up there. No one believed that she was climbing this mountain. (mind you, they probably thought she was a young toddler...but still.) When we got to the iron rungs and vertical scrambling, our friend Chris propped Alyssa up on his shoulders and carried her up the steep part of the mountain.

The second time showed a marked improvement for Alyssa over the previous year. She still needed to be carried over some of the tough scrambling parts, but that was not because of her strength, but simply her height.

We used to have a term that summed up our hiking trips with the little miss: "Alyssa pace". This was the slightly more relaxed pace that our hiking trips would need to take, simply because for every one step that we took, Alyssa would have to take four. Her legs just weren't long enough to go very fast. She practically would have to run up the mountain just to keep up with a very leisurely pace for us.

Those days, my friends, are gone. "Alyssa pace" will now be a goal for others of us to keep up with. With the addition of about seven pounds and five inches, Alyssa is still petite for her age - but what a difference those inches and a year have made. Alyssa required NO help this time at all, and often needed to be yelled at by us to slow down. At one point, I actually had to tell her to stop so I could catch my breath...something I NEVER have to do while hiking. I'm usually very good at pressing on...but at one point this weekend, I simply had to holler "UNCLE!" and stop. And the scrambling required no assistance what-so-ever. Alyssa honestly could have just left us all at the bottom and gone up to the top alone. And when I had the audacity to ask her if she needed help, she would become very grouchy and inform me that my help was NOT necessary.

It was a lovely trip with my lovely ladies...but the highlight of the trip was absolutely watching Alyssa. And it was bittersweet...because I was so proud of how far she'd come...but once again was faced with how quickly she's growing up. Such a strange feeling...welcoming not being needed.