It was an amazing day today. My friend and I had planned to go on a short hike and she foolishly trusted that I knew exactly where we were going. My mentality is as long as we stay on the path and can turn around and go exactly where we came from then we should be fine. She had a time limit today since she had a paper to write and I had set a limit of the miles that I felt I would be okay for my first hike since the last hip procedure. So we were on the same page.
The plan was for me to pick her up at her house and then head about 40 minutes east. As I began driving, I was listening to A Beautiful Day by U2.
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day
Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I'm not a hopeless case
I think my biggest strength is my optimism and I really do “know that I’m not a hopeless case” unless of course it has to do with my sense of direction. My sister routinely reminds me that “south” does not mean down. So, when I say I’m directionally challenged, unless I'm standing at the Pacific Ocean I am not sure which way West or East would be.
So we begin walking and talking and I have a general sense of where I am and recognize bridges and rocks. I hear the skittle skattle of lizards. I recognize the remnants of dog and horse poop. We keep walking. The ascent became a little trickier for my hip flexor, but I did it. Some beautiful scenery until we saw “not” dog or horse muck. She said it was from a bear. Okay, in one ear and out the other.
We keep walking and talking. My operative hip feels amazing, the other one not so much. And then she stops dead in her tracks, puts her hand up to tell me to stop and be quiet. She whispers, “Do you hear that?” Eyes as big as saucers and I whispered, “Nooooo.” We take a few more steps and we play this game of charades again and again. Then we heard a slight growl. Guess what? For about 10 minutes, I forgot about my hips as my heart raced and my brain wondered if my refurbished hips had come with any kind of super charged “get me out of my here fast” card.
Heartbeat returned to normal. We continued on and came across three mama horses with their babies roaming free. I also walked on a magical bridge where I posed like a tree with all of the other trees. After all, I had to get my Zen back. We planned to come back next Sunday so we could up the ante with more time for her and more healing time for me.
My goal is to ultimately be able to have that same feeling as when I thought a bear was growling at me. What? Well, let me clarify. My goal is to have my thoughts around my hips to be in the background of my being just as they were when I thought I was going to be eaten alive! I’m not sure if I’ll have to go east or west or up or down to get there, but I know I will.
Today, though, was a beautiful day.