A Reason to do Things You Don't Want To
Post 205
I decided to hike again this morning, this time to the only other hike Morgan did in this area, the Lost Sink trail.
It was 2019 and she came up from Birmingham for Father's Day and we'd only been here since the end of May. First we went out for breakfast and then the hike. It was ridiculously hot and humid, much like today, and it was difficult because it was our first time on it and we didn't know when we'd get to the top. As I mentioned last night, Morgan didn't particularly enjoy hiking , but she did it for her dad.
This trail doesn't go all up then all down. There is an incline, then quite a bit of flat surface, both dirt and boulders, before more incline. I was thinking about yesterday’s hike and how in my head about halfway up that I wasn't “needing Mo’s encouragement” like I had at Cathedral, then only minutes later, having forgotten that it's more difficult when hot, conjured her cheerleading up. Those same thoughts ran through my head today. Will I need her? Oh yes! Oh yes, I did. We actually took a couple thirty second rests as well.
I saw something I'd never seen - a pair of lavender panties hanging from a branch at a turn of the path, about seven feet high. Hmmm. Now what's funny is that on the way back down, my dog stopped and sniffed the air right there and I was like, “What?” and then I saw them again.
Using my critical thinking skills, which many people either never had, disposed of, or let atrophy since about 2008, I deduced they must not have been there for long!
The dog, at her level, never noticed.
I am so appreciative now, and was at the time also, that Mo hiked these trails even though she didn't really want to. I'm happy to have both memorable days, before and after both hikes, stored away (and a picture or two).
This is a reason to do things you may not really want to, putting other people first. You never know what it may mean to them.
I am writing this post mid-day and am scheduling to post tonight. We are headed to Chattanooga for dinner and an evening out with one of hubby’s sisters, his niece, and her two boys, ages 5 and 7 I think, or near that, who we will be meeting for the first time, although we've seen a lot of pictures. I am really looking forward to it and I bought them some sour candy. I'm sure I'll write a bit about it tomorrow.
“So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.
Matthew 7:12 AMP
That sounds like a wonderful evening, and I hope you had a great time!
I really like what you wrote about the memories you make even when you’re doing something you don’t want to really do. That can go both ways as well. If you did something for someone you love when you did not want to do it, and they passed away, you would be so glad you did it. And in Mo’s case she might even be getting some real heavenly joy from knowing how much that means to you and your husband now.
I once found a sock on a very private, very hot trail in AZ.
Even en flagrante, I think I would remember to put my clothes back on. Especially my chonies.