Living-Deliberately.com

Old friends, old friends,
Sat on their parkbench like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends
Can you imagine us years from today,
Sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years,
Silently sharing the same fears

***************

Sure, it’s an old Simon and Garfunkel song. But it reminds me of the best thing that happened in a weekend full of good things….seeing David slip, for a few hours, into the worn and comfortable skin of old friendship. Not that they’re anywhere near seventy, but David and Scott will still be friends then, and no doubt will instantly enter back into their hilarious sarcastic banter within seconds,even if it’s been years since they’ve seen each other.

Saturday was a great day. Scott and Jennifer were up for the weekend, staying in Pigeon Forge, and dare I say, missing out on the relaxing aspect Tennessee can offer entirely? Well, more on that later, but at least they got the much needed change of scenery. Scott has been in school I think as long as I’ve known him. He just finished up his cardiac nursing degree this year and for the duration has balanced a job, school, and a family. Jennifer deserves a sainthood for the load she’s obviously carried and for the fantastic job she’s done of it. They are great friends; he was best man at our wedding and it’s cool to have kids the same ages, seeing them as babies and now playing together.

So we got up early. The plan was to go get them in Pigeon Forge, a bit less than an hour away, and then head back to Blount County to hike in Cades Cove. Out by 8 am, which after a few rough starts on our end, became more like 8:45.

Wheaton got in the car, pensive for the hour. He’s usually one of our early birds. Looking out at the mountains, he seemed puzzled, “The trees are foggy. Maybe that’s too much chlorine in my eyes.”

And for those of you unfamiliar with the smokey mountain haze, it looks exactly as if you were looking out from chlorine-burned eyes.

I’d never been to Pigeon Forge, and forgive me please if you happen to be a lover of the area. I’ve rarely seen so much commercial and developmental clutter crammed into one relatively small place in my life. In a place full of natural and spacious beauty all around, I’m amazed that anyone could find that attractive. It must have it’s own smog clouds from the traffic. And isn’t it a bit ironic that some of the biggest draws are not the shows, the shopping, or the “indoor skydiving” places but are instead the hills, the hiking, the tubing, the history?

David has to drive through it regularly as part of his sales territory, and does so with white knuckles, saying, “IhatethisplaceIhatethisplace” and trying not to count pancake places. He’d easily loose count after 568. Scott says the pancakes cost more than the steak!

ANYWHO….it was a small part of our morning, entirely made better with the meeting up with the Parkers. Scott had told us he’d lost weight and would be unrecognizable but we never quite beleived it. Well WOW!!! I think he said 100lbs gone? It was amazing. And he’s done it the healthy way folks…diet and lots of excersize. Later in the day he revealed that diet includes protein bars and artificial sweeteners like Splenda, and if you know me, you know how quickly I wanted to climb up on my soapbox! But a little temperance would be good for my soapbox. Babysteps are necessary in such a radical change and he’s got the rest of his skinny-man life to learn the dangers of chemicals masquarading as food. We’re proud of all the progress made!

Jennifer looked great too. I think Scott should take her on a much longer vacation than just a few days and not once grumble about how much it costs. She has a great camera that I tried not to envy! The boys had changed alot since we’d seen them last but they still had that totally endearing Mississippi accent that I always think of when I think of them. They are sweet boys and Scott and Jen are blessed to have them.

Unexpected fun point of the day that suprising didn’t cost alot of money, even to those who bought them new: they had walkie talkies! David and Scott started right in, from the line of white SUV’s taking forever and a day to gas up, through getting separated on the trail, to chatting while we made the long, soggy drive home. They got in a lot more buddy time this way and Jennifer and I had alot of laughs listening to them!

Cades Cove is going to have to be it’s own post. I want to get the pics back and I need to get on my Monday. After the long day, when we’d tanked up on steak, peanuts and rolls at Texas Roadhouse, watching our kids play hockey in the parking lot and have a ball together, laughed more than we could have imagined, and just basked in the comfort of familiarity, it was time to say good-bye.

Now that he’s done with school and settling into a more reliable routine, Scott sounds charged to become an Ironman. Adventure runs, pushing himself to the limit, and sucking all the marrow out of life. But I’m compelled to hope one more thing for him and his family….a slower pace. A release in the tension. A long vacation with no guilt, and sunsets spent not in running, but in a glass of wine and his wife, with the kids chasing fireflies and laughing. The “grind” will always be there and burnout isn’t pretty my friend. Sit awhile by the still waters.

Live to be seventy.