Hiking with Jamin

A happy memory of mine is the time Jamin (about age 12) and I hiked our first 14,000 ft. peak in Colorado. We camped over night at the base and arose before daylight the next morning to head up Mount of the Holy Cross. The climb went well and we arrived at the top enjoying the "forever" views all to ourselves. Jamin took particular pride in signing the log showing that he had reached the goal. Although the hike up had been strenuous, the hike back proved to be particularly difficult because it involved climbing down through massive boulder fields and was really tiring to my legs. I'll always remember as we neared the bottom and I was about to drop from exaustion Jamin cheerfully called to me from behind. He said, "Dad I just realized something", to which I replied, "What's that son?" And he happily said, "I just realized I've been smiling the whole way down". That was the essence of my Jamin - he almost always had a smile on his face and he faced even the most difficult tasks with enthusiasm and happiness. Jamin, I love you like crazy! Dad