Precerpt from Raising God's Rainbow Makers: Doah Discovers Trees
Some lessons children learn on their own. Others they learn from siblings. And then there are the lessons they learn that you wish—deeply, fervently—they had not. When Shane was ten, he and Donny decided they were going to hike the Appalachian Trail. Not talk about it. Not dream about it. Actually do it . And they did—more than a thousand miles of it, step by determined step. Doah, eight years old but developmentally closer to four, was enthralled by the entire enterprise. He watched the preparatory hikes every morning as Donny and Shane marched up and down the little knolls behind our home in Arlington, Virginia. He helped select and mail the care packages of freeze‑dried food to the post offices along their route. He listened to Shane’s journal entries with rapt attention. But what fascinated him most was not the gear, the miles, or the adventure. It was the bathroom logistics. When he learned that hikers simply “pee in the trees,” something lit up inside him. This, apparently,...