You would not have known today from the first day of spring. Woods Guests were exploring their domain. Sixty degrees and a beautiful blue sky. Could winter be over the day after Groundhog Day?

As I age, I often look back on a day and wonder why I felt so good for what I have just experienced and then the revelation strikes me…I am alive and a player in the game. I mentioned to MJ this morning that she and I must start taking more day trips.  As my good friend Jerry said years ago, ‘Blow the stink off.’ I said we should emulate past senior mentors, make a Circle from our home base, and visit surrounding semi-local areas. 

As I see others and witness their life exuberance I feel better. The more I am with my peers, the more I notice the peculiarity of similarity in our journeys. 

‘It is unusually warm for February 3rd,’ Neva J said with a laugh. ’I remember when I was a kid and we walked to school and then back home and both ways were uphill and snow-covered,’ she winked!

‘What did you talk about on those long uphill snow-covered walks,’ Jane asked? ’Did you speak of boyfriends and hope for the future,’ she continued?

‘Grandma A loved FDR and so did I,’ Neva J said wistfully.’ ’We worried about the War and our family and friends fighting overseas,’ Neva J said.’ ’I dropped out of high school to go to work in the Shoe Factory and thought that it was a brilliant life decision,’ she said as she shook her head.

‘It seems that there has always been a War to talk about,’ Chet noted. ’Today it is Vietnam but tomorrow will surely bring another conflict…when will we Christians discover the Peaceable Kingdom,’ Chet mused.

‘Dutch loved to walk in the Woods and he loved a warm February Day like today,’ Neva J said. ’He went missing in Europe and is presumed dead,’ she said as she brushed a tear from her eye.

‘Look ahead in the shadows of the trees…a man is waving for us to follow him,’ Billy B said.

‘He has on a Derby or Bowler hat and he is waving it in the air as he gestures for us to come up where he is,’ said Jane.

‘Dutch…always wore a Bowler hat…,’ Neva J said…