an important day...

josh and i took off for a few hours yesterday and wandered one of the
most beautiful places i've ever been.  there's two sides to this park -
the maryland side and the virginia side. this was my first time on the
virginia side. and i gotta tell ya -shame on me for not going there every
chance i can get! and that WILL be changed!

josh and i hang out together really beautifully. we both can chat
up a storm, talk serious at the drop of a hat, or carry on with silliness,
making ourselves laugh hard. we gasp at beautiful things, we love to
eat snacks, and when one says 'this is so beautiful out here!' the other
one will respond with 'it really is' with great sincerity, no matter how
many times it's been said before.

we landed at the visitor's center and met the nicest man, bob.
he gave us the scoop on the hike we wanted to take. we laughed and
joked with bob. i loved him. he gave us this great description of the
trail and off we went......

and at every turn it was paradise. every single turn.

we found this little stream with a little waterfall and we picked some
rocks, snuggled in and had lunch. mmmmming over all the food.
i have never brought garlic stuffed olives for snacks before - but
knowing josh and i loved them, i had slipped them in. everything was
aimed for stuff we delighted in - complete with the dark chocolate
candy bar!

there was a little bridge near us that people hiked over to keep goin'
on the path. an asian family walked over the bridge, saw us and waved.
we waved back. but the dad....he was completely taken with us.
he kept waving. josh and i kept waving back. it was the funniest thing.
i loved the man immediately. there was such joy and delight in his wave.

later on, we caught up with them. there was some trickiness involved
cause the path had got flooded. the park guys were there trying to drain it,
we had to go over their big ol' fat pump hose and climb over some rocks.
the asian dad there was helping his family get down from the rocks.
reaching his hand up for each one.

i was right behind his wife, thinking, 'man, i sure could use that hand of
his.' and sure enough, he looked up with the brightest smile and offered
his hand. then he offered it to josh. and he kept offering it. turned out
there was a line of people behind us who had all caught up. and the man
stood there and offered help and joy to each person hopping down from
the rocks.

when i told noah and zakk about him later i said 'he was our little piece
of gold we found along the trail.'

when we finished the most beautiful hike (truly) that i have ever taken in
my life, josh turned to me and said 'should we go thank bob?' (the park guy)
(too many bobs around here)
grinning, i was all in. and off we went to tell him about our hike.

talking all the way home about what a great trip it was, i was so filled
with gratitude for having snagged the morning and spent it the way we did.

when i got home, there was a message on my machine.
my sister in law isn't doing so well.
she's doin' really bad, actually.
i haven't talked about her much here because i'm not sure how much i want
to do that. i'm not sure how much is okay to say. it's her privacy and her life.

i grabbed the phone, called my mom, got the scoop and trying hard not to,
i choked up anyway. my mom choked up in return.

hanging up, it took me a little while to gain my composure.

i thought of the morning i just had.
i realized with even more awareness of the gift i had been given.

stepping outside i looked at a leaf on a plant in my garden.
i reached out to touch it. 'what if i knew i was never gonna see this
again next year?' i touched it and rubbed my fingers on it.
i had never felt it ever before. it felt fabulous. and i had never felt it
before. ever.

how much do i miss every day?
how much would i miss if i knew there weren't that many left.
would i pay more attention?
i so absolutely would.