My Honorable Husband walked into the kitchen this morning and said, “I have a brilliant idea. On the weeks that you don’t have your Hiking Club, let’s go out into the Hill Country and do a hike ourselves.”

When we were younger, we loved hiking together. Most of our vacations have been to the mountains. The two of us enjoyed mountain trails before we had children. Our son was on the Cub Lake trail when he was 3-years-old and our daughter hiked to Nymph Lake when she was three as well. As the kids got older, we took longer trails. Even the years when we did historical vacations, we did a lot of walking – like the Freedom Trail in Boston.

In 2004 HH hurt his knee. He did physical therapy and fortunately avoided surgery. Under normal circumstances he has no pain. But he learned that his strenuous hiking days were over. His knee does not like steep inclines or large rocks. He exercises every day walking on the roads around our home. When we are on vacation, we take long walks on smooth paths. It is the mountain trails that bring back the pain. It was hard for me to accept that when his hiking days ended, mind did as well.

Two years ago God blessed me with a ladies hiking club. I am one of the younger women in the group. A few of these hikers are in their 70s. We are all in the club for the same reasons: we want to stay healthy, and our husbands for one reason or another, do not hike. I’ve had a wonderful time getting to know these ladies as friends as we hike together twice a month.

One day in early January it was sunny and warm. HH and I drove to a lake with the dog and took a long walk on a hike & bike trail. There were no inclines and because the path was for bicyclists, it was smooth enough for him to enjoy without having to watch his feet. Last week we had a coupon for a new restaurant out in the Hill Country. We decided to drive up for lunch and take an equestrian trail that was nearby. I enjoyed both of these outings. It was great exercise, of course, but it was more than that. I realized how much I had missed the camaraderie of being on the trail with HH. Conversation sprang up naturally about issues that we never seem to have time to talk about on an ordinary busy day.

He obviously felt the same way. So we now have a commitment to hike together on the weeks when I don’t have Hiking Club. We will look for more bicycle and equestrian trails. Some weeks we may invite couples from the city to come and join us. This is going to be fun!