Gifts, Part Two

When I wrote "Gifts", I honestly had no idea who sent me the lovely bath set. The mystery's solved- thank you so much to Jim, my thoughtful brother!   "Happy Birthday to me" just continues.   :)

And the lesson from this weekend? - I have gifts to give, as well as gifts to receive. 

For one, I hope to give the gift of glimpses of the beauty around me as I explore my new home.  

This was Sunday's adventure- very condensed into two pictures. I took the meandering back roads home from church - meandering, to say the least. It was closer as the crow flies but much longer as my Prius drives. 

This was my view from on top of Bear Mountain fire lookout site.
Yep, drove all those roads.

http://moh.tie.net/content/docs/SmokeFire.pdf
A history of Black Hills fire lookout towers

This is the scene that completes a panorama picture of the view from Bear Mountain.
In the far right side- there is a blurry, orange blob???

It's the Crazy Horse Memorial!

This is my usual view of what will someday be the world's largest stone carving.
I pass it about once a week on my way to the neighboring town of Custer. http://www.visitcuster.com/nationalparksmonuments/crazyhorsememorial/

And this was my view on Saturday....

His head is 88 feet high, the Presidents at Mt Rushmore are 60 ft.

I did the annual Crazy Horse Memoria Volksmarch (10K walk) and wandered through the woods to get up to the top of the monument work site.
http://www.keloland.com/news/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=132508


 You can only walk up once a year -
I did it with thousands of congenial strangers
and one new friend.

With all the people up there, I had to hold my phone out over the fence to get this shot.

The people onthe  top are standing on what will be his outstretched arm.
The tunnel is the carved out area above his horse. 

This is the model for the memorial.
The carving was started in 1948 and they expect it to continue ....for a long time. 

So what was my gift to give?  It will be no surprise to most of you that I have...the  gift of gab. 

We use that term rather derisively but for those of us who are extrovert, we like to talk. And on Saturday it was a gift.  The week before, I had asked around to find a hiking companion but had no luck. So I started out with the small mob at the beginning and soon found myself in a serendipitous group of four women. I think two were hiking together and two of us were solo. After exchanging the usual "Where are you from? Isn't this a lot of work? etc",  the other single gal and I struck up a conversation. 

I love that phrase- "struck up....". It means to initiate, to begin- perhaps, to create. There isn't a real motive for the chance conversation, it's essentially between two strangers . It isn't connived or premeditated. It just happens. 

Or does it? What in life is truly random? 

It turns out my companion for the hike was a single woman, also in a transition time in her life, moving to a new city from a more rural area, looking for new adventures and friends.  Well, that sounds like someone else I know, except for the rural to city part - I'm doing the city to rural!  She wants a city with lots of outdoors activity and bike trails so she's moving to my closest "real" city, Denver. 

And for her, this hike wasn't merely a pleasant walk but a big step back into a lifestyle she hasn't enjoyed for several years. So here she was, an introvert with some health challenges, hiking at a higher elevation and along came this friendly stranger with a gift.... for gab.

Almost there....

Near the top, we stopped to catch our breath and look at the carved mountain before us.

"I'm sure glad you can carry a conversation.  I couldn't hike like this now and talk at the same time- takes too much oxygen!"

Well, I had asked her if she wanted the long version of my story, so she had been warned!

The short story? We had a great time. We spoke of our favorite foods and travels - we both love ethnic food and Israel. We shared our life stories and our hopes for the future. We were both grateful for the successful hike- for me it has been a dream to do this in memory of my father who hiked up Crazy Horse numerous times but never with me.  For her? It was a symbol of a bigger hike- a hike into a new life, a healthier life- physically and emotionally.   And that step was unexpectedly accompanied by a fellow traveler- one with a story that she was willing to share.  One with a gift of gab. 

So- who knows who you might encourage by giving- give the gift of being yourself.   I might have hiked alone - that would have been fine but I assumed I'd meet someone to share the Volksmarch. And turns out, I didn't just meet someone but also made a new friend along the way. I was encouraged in my journey, I  had fun, the time passed quickly- giving of myself was as much a blessing to me as anyone. 

So, thanks Tracy. It was a great hike and I'll pay for lunch next time.  I loved sharing our stories and the confidence we share moving foward in our new lives. Can't wait to see what adventures are in store for both of us! 

PS- it's Monday and my calves still ache.