The Great Outdoors - Two Perspectives: Part I

What a great weekend! On Saturday H and I took a ride to Amicalola Falls State Park in the north Georgia mountains and hiked up to the falls – beautiful blue skies, a cool breeze, and breathtaking scenery. I love being out in nature! I have, however, discovered that communing with nature is not quite the same as I remember it as a kid. Don’t get me wrong – I have a fabulous time – but I’ve noticed that the older I get, the more stipulations I seem to have about being in the great outdoors. Wimpy might be an appropriate word to describe me.

For one thing, I’m not particularly keen on bugs. I’m not afraid of them; I just don’t want them on me, so I do a lot of arm waving and swatting. I love the exercise, but once I get tired, that’s it. I’m done, which can be problematic if we’re only halfway through the hike. I despise being itchy, and the thought of poison ivy makes my skin crawl; thus I’m careful not to touch anything that has more than two leaves unless it’s a tree I can identify. I don’t like to get my hands dirty; but even worse, I don’t even like to get my clothes dirty. And, I hate that little trickle of sweat that starts at the nape of my neck and runs the full length of my backbone, stopping only when the top band of my undies absorb it.

I don’t believe I have ever mentioned any of this to my husband. He’d probably give me the rolly-eyes. I usually try to disguise my idiosyncrasies by hiking with a smile and a joie de vivre attitude. Mind over matter, that’s the key. My guess, though, is that he’s got my number. So, as we neared the end of the trail, and H announced with gusto, “Baby, we’re headin’ for the barn!” I put a little extra skip in my step and a big ol’ grin on my face, ‘cause I knew a cup of coffee and air-conditioning were just around the bend.