Hiking and bird...listening?

Dear George,

So last week one of my best friends in the whole world dragged me out of the house at the crack of dawn to go "hiking". I don't know if you know this George, but I live in the middle of a big city (well the suburbs anyways). JW must have looked a long time online to find us somewhere to hike. And even then it was about 45 minutes away. At the time I was like "WHY am I up this early??? Why am I battling rush hour traffic when I could still be in bed???"

I am soooo glad I did!

So we went to this Audubon center to hike. You haven't met JW but he and I are probably the worst candidates for bird watching ever created. We talk WAY too much. I had this thought while we were hiking that I was really glad we aren't soldiers or we didn't live back in the days when the commanches were still raiding in the area I live. Cause we made so much noise crashing around looking for birds it was ridiculous.

BUT it was the most wonderful morning. We talked, JW tried to strike off into the woods on "paths" that most of the time I couldn't see, I worried way too much about snakes (I think its still too cold for them), the day was absolutely perfect, sun shining, cool, breeze blowing. I told JW I had never climbed a tree, so he decided to find me one to climb. In my defense, in the neighborhood I grew up in they had cut down all the trees before they built the houses. So the only trees were baby ones in people's yards.

Did I mention JW can talk me into just about anything? He comes up with some crazy idea and I say no way I'm doing that and then somehow the next thing I know I'm doing it.

So we left the path, and we were following these tracks. At the time I didn't know what kind of tracks they were. About 3 inches across, with 3 toes. It didn't look like they had any claws or anything. But I was a little concerned we were following something that might eat us...I think it was actually a deer, we never saw it though. Anyways, JW found this tree that was at a slant, hanging out over a tiny creek. He said it was perfect. First we had to get across the creek. JW is a lanky 6.7, so he just stepped across. I, however am a rather round 5.3. Lol so he talked me into jumping over, and he would catch me. So I did, and he did. But it was funny cause I guess I hadn't realized what a girl I am!

So I climbed the tree, and JW stood underneath me like he was going to catch me if I fell. Which is rather silly cause if I fell I would want him to get out of the way so he didn't get hurt. Not for any unselfish reasons, but because SOMEONE needs to be able to go get help! But it was very sweet, he is such a gentleman.

So then we hiked some more, and talked some more. And we heard a woodpecker in a dead tree, but we looked and looked and we never saw it. We just heard it. Does it count as birdwatching if we don't actually see the birds??

And then this really cool thing happened. We were talking about a mutual friend who I am worried about and JW was like "we should pray about it." now George, you know I'm a convert to the Church, and even after 5-6 years I'm still uncomfortable with praying out loud anywhere but at Church or in my own home. The cool thing about JW? He's only been in the Church for less than a year. But he's so comfortable with things like that. So we sat on a bench in the middle of the woods and prayed together. It was amazing!

The whole morning felt like a vacation. And all of this happened before 11:30! Lol I had to be at work at 1, but I felt soooo good and recharged. It made my week!!

So we're doing it again on Friday. Somewhere different this time. And JW is bringing his new friend G, and I invited my friend, the one I'm worried about. She's the one I wrote about in a previous blog. I'm still not sure exactly what to do to help her, but I figure she could probably use a mini-vacation too.

-S