HIKE THIRTY-TWO

Hiking with an old buddy

After graduating from college and traveling in Europe for eight months, I came home ready to do art. My first full-time job was at Dayton’s, selling sporting goods until my supervisor did me a favor. He said, “Why don’t you go do your artwork instead of working here!”

So I got a job at Walker Art Center, working three, ten-hour days a week so I could have the other four days to do art. Because it is hard to do art without a support system, a few of us women at the Walker started The Girl Art Club. Our members included photographers, painters, dancers, writers and illustrators. We met every few weeks to share our art work. To this day, most of us who were part of The Girl Art Club are still doing our art. It was a wonderful way to get the support we needed to keep at it!

Bar-sponsored softball team

At the same time, a couple of my roommates got the big idea to start a softball team. We recruited friends of friends, girlfriends of old boyfriends and work buddies and soon found enough women to start a team we called The Hits. We were sponsored by various bars in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, meaning that after games, we got free beer! Our friends and parents came to cheer us on. A week before my wedding, I got hit by a line drive straight into my mouth! The swelling went down just in time for the big day.

One of my new friends on The Hits softball team was Lucia Watson. At the time, Lucia was catering and hired me to be a server at some of her big parties. I wasn’t a very good server, but I sure learned a lot from Lucia about cooking and preparing for a party. We had some really good times back in our twenties before we got too busy with our careers and me with a new family.

It helps to talk

Lucia and I remained dear friends through the years although she was busy running three top-rated restaurants while I became a mom of three kids. Now more than 30 years later, Lucia and I met on a rainy, early spring morning to hike together at Murphy Hanrehan Park in Burnsville. We hiked, talked and watched Lucia’s dog, Audrey, go nuts chasing things through the woods. We were wet and eaten by mosquitos but what a fun morning. It was also a chance for me to talk with an old friend about Barry.

Here is the deal: As I go through all of this upheaval with Barry’s frontotemporal dementia (FTD), I’m realizing that I can’t handle it alone. It really helps to have old and new friends to talk to. For all of you readers of this blog who have offered to take a hike with me — let’s do it! I plan to post some hike information for anyone to join me this fall. I have quite a few hikes left until I reach my goal of 60 hikes — so let’s get going!

For a peaceful hike, check out http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/murphy_hanrehan_iba.html
For an awesome meal, check out http://www.lucias.com