A Milestone Hike

There are a gazillion blog posts waiting to be written; We’ve had visits from beloved friends, both Grandmas visited, the basement project is steaming ahead, we’ve had dog sitting and learning and laughter, the cats have peed on my favorite chair, but I have to write this post about today.

Monkey and Yessa are down at T & J’s dog sitting. Buster is on the couch with a fever from a cold. But it’s a gorgeous day, and everyone was in a comfortable holding pattern, so Buds and I headed to Edwin Warner to hike the Blue Trail.

We have a record hiking time on this trail, and Buds likes to improve every time we hike it, so he told me before we began that I had to stay focused.

“No stopping to talk to people and dogs, Ginnie.”

I agreed, but, well, you know…

Shortly after we’d been hiking, we came upon a mom, dad, and their two little girls carrying their two little backpacks. They stepped to the side so we could trot past them, and I said to the mom, “Wow, this is the first time we’ve been the ones passing a family. Normally it’s us stepping aside to let others go past, but now our kids are all old enough to be off somewhere else.”

The mom gave me a sympathetic sigh of understanding. She got it.

For Buddie’s sake, I said all this as we zoomed past them, but it gave my heart a bit of a twinge to realize this new milestone.

Later on the hike we came across a mom and dad with a youngster asleep in the backpack. That mom and I exchanged life stories as they also stepped aside to let us hike through.

It’s a small thing to some, but it felt like a very large change to me today. Buds and I have certainly hiked just the two of us many times before, but today felt different.

I love our time, the Buds and me, but I also savor every single memory of a little peanut in my arms…or on my back.