On Top of the World

Today I was blessed with the privilege of hiking with a friend. We hiked to the top of two different peaks of over 14,000 feet. It takes your breath away, literally. The views weren't exactly what one would dream of as we hiked right into a cloud. Thankfully at the top of our first peak (Grays) that cloud produced a nice icy snow to go along with the driving wind. From there we ventured over to our second peak. The only real down side to it all (besides the blisters) was that there was an event to raise money for lung cancer where about 150 people were hiking to the top of Grays Peak as well. It was a little more crowded than one would like, but it was swell anyway.

As I was driving home I was reflecting some on the hike today. It hit me that in a weeks time I ran a marathon and then hiked to 14,000+ peaks. Now, I realize this isn't going to go down in the annals of history as one of the more amazing accomplishments, but...well... there was just something about it. Having done both I feel like there is little I can't do, that I'm ready to conquer the world... I feel on top of the world!

Jim and I on top of Torrey! 

Being vs. Doing

Those who have been want to check my blog on a fairly regular basis over the summer may have noticed it's been some time since I last posted. I hope you haven't missed me too much. There have been two major factors. The first one was hosting a visitor for about a week. Then following that I was off to Anchorage where I got to visit another friend and run a marathon. In that time I did learn a lesson, or perhaps more accurately reminded of one.

Between hosting a couple of friends this summer and then being hosted by a friend this summer I got to think about being versus doing. My tendency as friends were preparing to visit was to come up with an entire agenda of things to do. I felt the need to schedule as much activity as I could cram into their visit without totally wearing them out. I wanted my friends to experience as much of the area as they possibly could. I found the same thing happening from the other end as I was preparing to visit Anchorage. As my friends schedule limited the amount of time together I received apologies for not doing more. Yet after all three of these visits this past summer I found that the best part, the highlights if you will, was just being with my friends. Why do we spend so much time doing? Why do we find it so difficult to just be, specifically just be with one another? Being, it seems, is so much better than doing...not that doing is bad, but it always seems better when the doing leads to being with someone. What a blessing it has been this summer to be able to just be with some special friends.