– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young – - One molehill for me, please

– Time For A Tiara: Column by Ginna Young –

My favorite TV show when I was little, was called High Mountain Rangers, which ran for one season. It was about a dad and his two sons (Robert Conrad and his real life sons), who were highly trained wilderness search and rescue law enforcement in Nevada, who rescued hapless adventurers.

I loved how they inevitably swooped in and saved the day, and from then on, I aspired to act like that, whenever a situation called for climbing. For example, who could pass up ascending to the very top of an enormous snowbank and feeling as though you were, in fact, a high mountain ranger?

Of course, that also applied to extremely large piles of split wood. That was a little trickier, but I learned to scramble up it, with a minimum of effort.

During that time, I frequently read Big Bird and Little Bird’s Big & Little Book, which is about Big Bird, from Sesame Street, and his miniature companion, Little Bird. Throughout the book, Big Bird proclaims that he likes bigger things, while Little Bird naturally prefers the smaller things in life.

My favorite part of the book, is Big Bird saying, “I like mountains,” while Little Bird says, “I like molehills.” I could never understand how someone would take a molehill over a majestic, beautiful, soaring mountain. Mountains are so scenic and serene, and filled with this wildness that speaks to me.

Flash forward to just a couple weeks ago, and I was covering the annual Candlelight Ski & Sledding, at Brunet Island State Park in Cornell. The weather was really nice, despite a blanket of new-fallen snow the day before.

I tromped over to the sledding hill, where kids were screaming happily and adults were laughing merrily, thinking, what a great hill. That feeling went away the next instant, as I slipped, lost my balance and hurt my bad knee, as I flailed, trying not to go tumbling down said hill.

In spite of my aching knee, I managed to get my pictures and I think they turned out good, but as I was back at home, resting my poor swollen knee, all I could think was, I think I would make a very poor high mountain ranger.

For the first time, I understood Little Bird. Given the state of my knee, I think I would choose the molehill, too. It’s a heck of a lot easier to climb over.