In Heaven THere Are No Hiking Trails

Books By Patti Liszkay
​Available On Amazon

​"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
​​Available on Amazon.

​
​IN HEAVEN THERE ARE NO HIKING TRAILS

​   Aware that I'm well along the way in my mortal journey, once in a while I find myself pondering that classic existential ditty:
       In heaven there is no beer; 
       That's why we drink it here.
       And when we're gone from here
       Our friends will be drinking all the beer.
    Of course, being a non-drinker I have little interest in whether or not there's beer in heaven or who will be drinking it when I'm gone from here. And so for "beer" I might substitute Diet Coke,

​...donuts,

​...cherry pie,

...veggie wraps with a side of hot, crispy fries,      

​...​movies, ​

​...pianos,

​...long morning walks, ​

​...family  vacations, ​

​...Facetime calls,

... or any number of the earthly delights that give life - well, my life, at least - its fizzy effervescence.
​         In such a direction were my thoughts wandering a couple of weeks ago during a hike with my hubby Tom.

      Tom was in training for taking his Boy Scout troop on a campout this weekend to Shawnee Forest in Southern Ohio where they'll have to negotiate several miles of rough, hilly terrain while toting backpacks filled with camping and cooking gear.
​        So Tom took a couple of practice hikes on local hiking trails, heavily laden,

...with me tagging along, only lightly laden.

      Our first hike was on October 31 along a trail in a Columbus park not far from where we live, beautiful Blendon Woods,

​...where we were treated to a glorious fall day,

​...with occasional splashes of bright color.

      It was a fairly easy hike with only a steep hill or two to tackle.

    We did our second hike a few days later at Clear Creek Park in Hocking Hills about an hour southeast of Columbus.   

  The trail we took here was considerably more challenging than Blendon Woods had been.

​   (That is, at least for me it was challenging. But in the parking lot we met a couple of fit-looking ladies dressed in running gear who informed us that they ran the Fern Trail  once a week. They were young enough to be my daughters).
​       The trail was often steep and sloping and rocky and crossed with tree roots, with the rocks and roots treacherously camouflaged by leaves.

       
​     Still, it was a beautiful path. 

      We did two two loops and a little more, about three miles total. It took us several hours.

      And it was at a moment when I was huffing and puffing up some steep slope and kvetching about the rocks and roots underfoot that the "In Heaven" song once again popped into my brain, admonishing me to quit moaning, but to enjoy this trail and every other one I might yet be lucky enough to walk in this life.
     It also reminded me of of the card stuck on my refrigerator that my grandmother gave to my mother and my mother to me: