The Walk: Part I

A map of the area...wish I'd had this for my walk!

It is interesting how memory gets erased or at least impeded from year to year.  The rain is falling today, as it does every April.  It is a cold rain and if one spent much time in it, it would feel like an icy rain.  There are piles of "to do" lists scattered around the room, but if you'll indulge me, I would like to take a little trip back in time.  About 13 years to be exact.  Thirteen years ago I came to upstate New York to stay with friends while I got back on my feet.  A relationship had ended in Oregon.  It was a sad ending, and the grief sat heavy in my chest.

The day was shaping up to be much as this one is as I slid out of bed and slipped into my sweat pants.  I remember those comfy red sweats.  I don't particularly remember the shirt I wore that day, but then that was salvageable at the end of the day.  Unlike the sweats.  I headed downstairs and out the door after a brief "good morning" to Sue, one of my oldest and dearest friends.  She was drinking coffee and making breakfast for the guys.  Steve, her husband and Peter, her 10 year old son.  Since my arrival a few days before, there had been much story telling and gales of laughter around the kitchen table.  It was good to be with friends during this transition.

Pulling up my hood and zipping my coat, I was ready for a walk down the road.  It had been my habit to walk 2 or 3 miles every day for as long as I could remember.  Walking was something that moving wouldn't change.  The scenery however had.  I missed the Oregon landscape, but upstate New York has it's own beauty.  So after walking the mile down the road and starting back, I noticed a path across a little meadow and into the woods.  I decided to take a shortcut back to the house.  The Catskill mountains which surrounded me in a breathtaking vista are part of the oldest mountain range on earth.   Steve had filled me in on the local geography of the place, and I loved the fact that my feet were walking this ancient landscape.  As these things passed through my thoughts, I was passing a lovely pond and then entering the woods.

The path was clear at first and I thought it headed in the right direction, but it wasn't long before the path disappeared.  I felt somewhat confident.  After all, this was all within a half mile of the house.  Of course two hours later, that was no longer the case!  Passing the same old ramshackle building for the fourth or fifth time, I finally accepted the reality that I was lost and scared to death, not to mention exhausted and hungry for breakfast.

It is definite progress after 13 years that I can tell this story without hyperventilating.  More tomorrow!

Walk Safely!