Hiking Partners for Life
With you in the lead,
our perfect Adirondack pace is set.
Your legs carry you swiftly
over the mountain boulders and up.
After all of these years, you know
that my toes want to wiggle out of my hiking boots and dip into the lake.
I keep up, knowing
that you are always on the lookout for a safe water passage for me.
We reach the top of the fire tower winded,
grinning through Nalgene gulps and bites of sandwich.
Feeling equal parts accomplished and nostalgic,
two decades of navigating peaks and valleys together.
Hiking partners for life,
comfort lives in the humility that we share outdoors.
I tie my camping hair back with a bandana
while you find the perfect patch of a boulder for us to rest on before we descend.