Our 32nd Anniversary
Johnny Jones, 1 April 2001
Chip and I have done lots of things to celebrate anniversaries over the years. We've gone out to eat; we've gone to St. Louis and taken in a play; we've stayed home and had candelight dinners. For our 25th our friends gave us a nice celebration. Once we spent the weekend at a Bed and Breakfast in Ste. Genevieve. For our 30th, we had two free air tickets, so we went to Vieques, an island in Puerto Rico.
But this year was too busy to go very far. And we had just celebrated Chip's birthday by going out to eat. We needed something different.
Both of us thought about a hike. I hear you ask, "A hike?"
Well, yes. Think about how lovely last weekend was. Normally we're still in long sleeves when the redbuds blooms, but they were in pink splendor. And right on cue, just before Easter, the dogwoods were starting to pop still a yellowish-white, but brightening the woods. The recent rains made everything a shiny, bright green. And we were in shorts!
We love hiking. We talk while we walk. When I'm at home, it's easy for me to think, "Oops! I need to file that stuff in the computer room," or "Maybe I should empty the dishwasher," or "We need to get rid of those ugly leaves in the shrubs. They make it look like fall, not spring!"
But our job on a hike is to notice the beauty around us and listen to one another. Being out in God's creation refreshes and restores us.
Chip on johnson shutins trail
We hike often at Council Bluff, and not infrequently at Bell Mountain; to make the day special, we decided to drive all the way to Johnson's Shut-Ins and hike up towards Taum Sauk.
When was the last time we hiked there? It must have been one summer I have memories of a steamy, sweat-soaked day, swatting at deer flies down near the river, wondering why we were on the trail instead of in the water.
But last Saturday afternoon was a perfect day for hiking. Towards the rock outcroppings we sat down and let the breeze cool us from the effort of climbing while we watched black and white moths flit over the moss.
We hadn't remembered having to ford the creek so many times. Once we started back down the trail when we couldn't find the strategic rocks that would keep our feet dry across the ford but then we decided getting our feet wet was worth the extra time on the trail. On the way back, we found the felled tree that allowed us to cross high above the water rushing below. Dry feet!
Once we stopped to listen to the pleasure of the wind above and the water downhill from us. We stopped many times: for the little white butterflies; for the green snake perched like a vine on a barren limb; for the wildflowers that littered the sides of the trail like confetti in shades of purple, yellow, white, and red. We saw the shy Fremont's Leather Flower, the gaudy Fire Pink, the abundant Sand Phlox. We decided that the being tiny and hidden doesn't detract at all from a flower's loveliness. Needing to look closely made us appreciate the delicate beauty more.
Lots of people were at the Shut-Ins; few of us were on the trail. Much of our walk was just us and the lizards and the rocks and trees.
We don't have malls close by, but have places about an hour's drive in several directions that take your breath away with their variety and their beauty. We enjoy showing our area off when people come visit. And we enjoy treating ourselves by taking time to revel in the splendor of what God has made.
Spring is like resurrection; from the deadness of winter new life comes. When it does, we rejoice!
