I Could Be Napping...

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On this sunny, breezy Fall day, I could have taken a nap. I should be doing my homework, and I should have already gotten my ironing for the week finished. But, I helped my Gramps caulk our outside building, to keep out the rain and dampness, and I brought in my winter clothes while putting away my summer ones.
This weekend made me realize how old I am, I am not some twenty something young girl, who can go traipsing over rock and hill without pains. I don't actually know how many miles we hiked this past Saturday, but according to my right knee, a wee bit too long. Granted it has been a while since I have been hiking..and granted it has been a while since I climbed over rocks or through some rocks in one spot and my body is not as limber and giving as it once was. You would think that at forty you would still have that limberness, and stretchability in your body, well quite frankly, I don't. Much to my surprise, on the way back down the trail my right knee began to hurt, and each step became painful. But I trod on, just a wee bit slower than the rest of the group.
This was a outing for the teens in the church, and five adult ladies whose ages range from fifty something to thirty something, who would still like to think that they are not too old to be hiking in God's beautiful creation with young ladies who still can bend and twist without much pain. Ha ha.
Anyway, we have very few teens in our congregation, but one of the girls invited another girl, and we thought a few of the boys would show up. Though, I think we would have bitten off way much more than we could have chewed with them along. So here we go, walking along the trail, looking at the beautiful colors of the Fall leaves, the brilliant colors: orange, red, and yellow, the roaring sound of the water beside us, with it's nature ebb and flow. Our goal was to reach a place called the Laurel Falls, or the bottom of the falls, which seemed such an easy task. Little did we know that after hiking upward for what seemed five or six hours, in reality was only one and a half, we decided we had taken a wrong turn somewhere. So we stand perplexed about what to do next, standing there on a narrow path, and talking peaceably among ourselves about what to do next. One of the young girls did not have much experience hiking, and was for the most part, quite tired. The rest of us agreed that we should turn back, make arrangements to come back again and find out where our path led us astray. So turning to go back down, the hardest part of hiking in my opinion, we go back the way we came. And for protection purposes, the one young teen gal, Sue was much over joyed at the prospect of returning back to our parked cars. However, I wasn't the only one of the bunch who suffered injury, Sue, our feisty young teen, who began to sing Michael Jackson songs, and give it her best shot to dance like the singer, who recently has passed on, fell on rocks, on her knees and catching herself by her wrist. Ouch!
We made it back to the cars, and drove single file out of the park, each separating after reaching the main road, and going to do different things, one to pick up pizza's for the group, one to turn on the ovens at church to cook the cookies and stuff that was waiting, and one to go and get items that were forgotten .
We had every intention of having a quick hike, seeing beautiful waterfalls, and spending the afternoon cooking for our Pastor, and some of the elderly people in our church. It turned out to be something of a different nature, one because we had forgotten several item to cook with, and a certain person's cookies, that were supposed to harden and make nice oatmeal chocolate cookies, didn't turn out so well. But there was much fun during the hike, we acquired lots of pretty photos, we got to be together for an afternoon of joyful fellowship, and we did a good deed for those who received the baked goodies. All in all, it was good, and I would do it again, without the pain in the knee mind you, but I would rather be out living life, than sitting on the porch wishing I had.
Thank God for the beautiful scenery he places before us, and may we each decide to bask in it as often as we can.