SUPERIOR HIKING TRAIL 2016

Elusive memories of our meeting, August

Today as I hiked higher and higher on the Superior Hiking Trail, another memory popped into my mind. This is what I find so interesting about hiking: the brain brings up things when you least expect them. I couldn’t just space-out and hike. My brain had me remember a fall day back when I was a waitress working nights. I was riding my bike back home in the early morning dressed in my waitress uniform that was filthy after a night of serving hot fudge sundaes and greasy burgers to drunks. My apron pockets were heavy with tips. It had been a busy night. I was tired.

There was a guy I had seen the last few mornings standing at the bus stop as I rode by. He always tried to talk to me: “Just coming home?” “Where do you work?” I always just rode by, irritated at this stranger bugging me so early in the morning. Later I met that same guy at the YMCA. By then I had traded in my waitress uniform for a swimsuit and my WSI certificate. I was a lifeguard and this irritating guy from the bus stop corner ended up swimming each day at my YMCA. Believe it or not, that same guy later became my husband.

I had not thought about the bus stop story until that moment on the trail. I wondered why it was in my brain now. What was I supposed to learn from that memory? Maybe I was meant to just enjoy the memory from those early days. I now think that Barry and I were destined to meet and live this journey together.