May 2nd was the
anniversary of my mother's death - she died two years ago. We visited some of
my cousins in Texas last week so I got to talk about her a little with them. When
their father was alive he suffered from emphysema. Once he was looking for a
place to stay and at the age of 90, my mother got on the phone and contacted
the head of Chickasaw social services to help him find an apartment.
I went hiking a
couple of days ago. I always think of my mother while I'm hiking, I guess
because it allows my mind to wander. Jim was pretty much homebound for
the last 10 years of her life, so she enjoyed hearing about my treks into the
mountains, and seeing my pictures. When I went hiking I was always thinking
about what I could tell her about my trip. I still find myself doing that, even
though she's not here any more.
Jim travelled with
my father before he died, but she was a little afraid of the mountains. She
told me once about getting a panic attack while trying to climb up the steps next
to Seven Falls in Colorado Springs. The experience puzzled her because she had climbed
on trees and on the roof of her parents' house as a girl without ever being
afraid.
A couple of days
ago I hiked up the Ben Tyler Trail just a few miles SW of Denver. The trail is between
9000 and 10500 ft elevation. There's not much snow remaining there, but the
vegetation still hasn't grown up much yet. We had hoped to see some wild
flowers - Jim loved wild flowers, but there weren't many. They were like jewels
when we saw them though. There were a couple of clumps of Pasque Flowers, and
in the middle of a bed of dead grass and fallen leaves we found about four
stems of Fairy Slippers, a beautiful variety of orchid.
Fairy
Slippers
We met a young
woman on the way down and got to talking with her. She does a lot of hiking and
was telling us how she struggles to keep fit while holding down a job. I told
her about how my mother started exercising with Jack LaLanne in her mid 40's
and continued until she developed bone cancer at the age of 96. She remains my
inspiration for the benefits of exercise.
There was a story
on the news recently about a bear who wandered into Boulder Colorado and had to
be tranquilized and taken out into the mountains. About a month later the same
bear showed up in Boulder again. He had traveled about 30 miles to return.
That's the kind of story Jim enjoyed. She would tell me about her childhood and
I would tell her about the mountains, or whatever else I was doing.
I really miss her.
I didn't appreciate it at the time, but she was always on my side; she was
always proud of me; she was always interested in whatever I was doing, and she
was always glad to see me or to hear from me. No one will ever be able to
replace her.
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