Stone Mountain (NC, not GA)

This morning I had planned to take down Christmas decorations, do a bit of worky stuff, and take the boys to spend some of their Christmas gift card gifts. 

But while I was taking Lu Dog for a walk, Sarah called.  THE Sarah that I only recently got back in touch with after being out of touch for about a year.

Why out of touch, you ask?  "Well, life," we respond. And that, my friends?  Is about the lousiest excuse ever.

Because, I'll tell you, she's one of my Answer to Prayer Friends.  As in, there are several, specific times in my life that I prayed for God to bring a friend into my life.  One of them was right after I got married and most of my close friends were still single.  And God provided my good friend, Emily. And then another time was when we moved to this neighborhood, and I was a mom with a little baby and wanted a friend that lived in my neighborhood with a child so that we could have easy playdates.

Enter Sarah.  She's a charmer.  That first day we met, she just ran right down her front porch steps to introduce herself to me, and the rest is history.  I will never forget her boldness at offering friendship, and tears and laughs and miles later here we are.  So, while I want to say "shame on us" for letting this year get away from us, and I am so very, very glad that we can just pick right back up where we left off.

She and I have spent hours and hours together starting when Matthew was just about a year-old and her son Samuel was a little over 18-months-old.  We've taken overnight trips with our boys to their cabin at Powder Horn Mountain, as I'm sure you remember.

So, today she called, knowing that we were on Christmas break and suggested that we get together and go hiking! Or bike riding [she's enthusiastic like that]! She also suggested that while she knew it was really last minute trip idea, she thought I might be up for it since I'm a Spur-Of-The-Moment-Kind-of-Girl.

Hold up.  Does she know me?  At all?



So after telling her that there was no way on earth that Wimpy Girl could get the bike rack on Ole Bullet by herself, we decided a hike at Stone Mountain State Park would be just fine.  And with the sunny weather after days of rain and 50 degree temperatures, it really was.

We packed up picnic lunches (read: stopping at Subway for us since I had thrown out the rest of the moldy bread the day before and neglected to buy more) and awesome hats, hit the road, met up in Jonesville, found the park, and hit the trail.  We didn't hike the whole trail [which sidenote: is a very worthy trail!] since my Elderly Friend (she loves it when I call her that) has been having knee problems this week. But there were enough creeks, rocks, views, and wonderful smells (read: smells for Lu Dog) to keep us all entertained.

The boys were itching to climb and hike and jump and crawl and move. And that, my friends, is one of the vital differences between the genders. Sarah and I, on the other hand, were more than content to drive and talk and walk and talk and wait and talk and eat and talk and sit and talk.  Which clearly defines another vital difference between the genders.

The boys - SHOCK - left with as much as energy as they brought.  Sarah and I left with a hug and a promise to do better in 2012 with getting together.  Lu Dog left with the hopes of getting to bring home her very own deer on her next visit.

There's always tomorrow for putting away the Christmas decorations and gift card shopping.  And the dishes to put away, laundry to be folded, and little boy rooms to be straightened.

Especially since tomorrow I will be the one working and Alan will be the stay-at-home-dad.