Clouds pull each other's pants down and laugh.

Hike Wrap Up

Two years ago, one of our hikers weighed 50 pounds more than she does now. She always liked to walk, but she became obsessed after a little contest at her bank in which employees were challenged to log their daily steps over a two month period. So far this contest, she has walked more than a million miles; and that was before she walked to and from Stinson Beach. I'm not kidding- she walked 9 miles more than we did on the way out to the beach (we walked from Sausalito to avoid the noisy bridge), and she walked 25 miles more, when the next morning- she put on her backpack and her gold toed tennis shoes, and walked the hell home.
Thomas looked at her like she was crazy: "You won't be home until 8 pm"
(she walked in her door at 8:01).
I guess you had to be there, but I nearly cried when I saw her on the bridge as we were driving home that evening. Amid the swirling fog and the honking, noisy mess of a Monday, we saw her strolling happily along- looking out to sea. She had been walking for 8.5 hours, with nearly 2 hours to go.

This is a woman who smiled so much as a kid, her parents thought she might be a simpleton. (no joke) But she is also someone with a few incredibly sad stories. The first one was about how her mother died when she was little, and as she told me, the police drove her past her mother's mangled car at the accident scene on their way to identify the body; because in those days, they didn't think of how this might affect a kid. And you all know the incredible story of her dog Bobby- the Albert clone- and the fire that killed her friend who was saving him. When Bobby was on fire he ran through the neighborhood looking for her, leaving little footprints on the places they went together (she was away on business).

I don't know what my point is other than when I saw her on the bridge, it made my heart squeeze. We have all been a little bruised haven't we? It's lovely to see someone who keeps walking.


Finally, she told me this story: she absolutely loves the great blue heron of California; and she bemoaned the fact that she hadn't seen one in a very long time. But after exiting the bridge that night, standing alone along Chrissy Field was the bird in the photo above.: a great blue heron to greet her.
"Wow" I told her. "I just got chills".

And she said: "Yea, but you would think that fucker could have handed me a beer."