Yesterday turned out so neat--after a bumpy start. In the morning, I wanted to show Susan the tree, but it failed to light. She asked her husband, Walter (a retired electrical engineer), to come over and look at it. He did, he tested it, it still didn't work, so he unwound two strings and took them off. This caused a number of ornaments to fall, and we were left with a more or less de-decorated (orated?) tree.
That took some time and I had to set up Pat's morning medication and breakfast, make his lunch, and assemble a salad for my own lunch, so I just left it as was, and went off to the park for the hike of the South Jersey Outdoor Club.
Got there to find about fifty people. I was surprised that most were in their middle forties or older, and several were around my age. Alison and Ellen drove up, we parked and signed in, and A. introduced us around.
It's a great group and it was so good to walk with them, meeting and chatting with this person and that.
I always find it interesting and somehow mysterious to realize my children have lives largely unknown to me and I love to meet those who share it with them. There were hugs for Alison and questions about Mike, who was too busy to go this time ("Where's the big guy?").
We started off on the trail a little after 10 and here's the kicker:
We finished the whole 7.2 miles! For the others, this was--literally and figuratively--just a walk in the park, but for Ellen and me, it was momentous.
The hike took more than three hours and I was gratified to realize I could keep up well. Of course, this wasn't the intense (faster) walk Mike and Alison lead on Friday nights, but it was brisk and was no problem for me.
After, there was a potluck buffet right in the forest. I ate only my salad, but it was great fun to mingle and chat with fellow hikers. Alison told me about a Wednesday afternoon hike and I'm looking forward to that. I hope to participate and how great that would be!
When I got up a half hour ago, I had no soreness except for the front of my ankles. Alison had given me stretching exercises and I took Tylenol, and it feels better. I asked if I could have Ellen back just for the day and she agreed. Last night, she re-assembled the tree and it looks beautiful again.
Before our usual walk, Susan had presented me with a birthday gift: a tee-shirt with "Exit 58" (our exit on the parkway) on it, and pictures of our state birds: the mosquito and the greenhead fly. I love it and will wear it today when Ellen and I go back up to Alison's to help trim her tree and prepare for the Christmas Eve gathering.
Talked to Betty, and caught up on her birthday--like mine, it was quiet, but fun. Then Mike called from poolside on the cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's "Rhapsody of the Seas." He put Vivian on to say, "Happy Burfday, Nana!" before she ran back to splash with a little friend. They were docked for the night in Malaysia and enjoying the experience. This morning, I found an article on Singapore in the NYTimes travel section and e-mailed it to him.
It was a good, good day and I'm looking forward to another with my two D.D.s.