what love is?

Today is Sunday and church day . I called my sister on the way to the trail and she wondered if I was going to church and I had to say no. While I felt bad I think the experience on the trail was spiritual in nature. While riding I got to thinking about what love is. This is what I discovered on the trail today.

I ran into Ken and Randy who are friends. We cross country ski together. They had already gone a bazillion miles. We chatted for awhile and went on our separate ways. I am way too slow and don't ride as many miles as those boys do to ride with them. It was fun chatting with them anyways. Friendship is a kind of love.

As I got closer to Mirabeau Park I looked for this elderly couple. They are there almost every day.She has obviously had a stroke of some kind. She and I assume her husband walk along together. I have seen him drop something and have her pick it up. I am thinking this is part of her physical rehab. They could just stay home in their recliners and yet they are out here pushing back the effects of age and physical pain. Their commitment to each other and life is love.

When I got to the parking lot at Mirabeau I saw I'm thinking a young dad and three kids with backpacks heading down a trail to the river. Taking time to show your kids the beauty of the river and just hanging with them is love.

I pass a young women who is guiding another elderly women who again show signs of some kind of physical aliment. On the way back I hear her encouraging this person and that it is love.

At the second parking lot by Mirabeau I see signs and blue star balloons and a "start" sign. I groan a little and then I realize it is a walk in support of Wishing Star. It is due to start soon. One hundred walkers who could be at the lake or home reading the Sunday paper but they are here in support of a wonderful organization that changes lives and that is love.

Across the river I can hear a cheering crowd. It is a soccer tournament and those shouts are from family and friends of those kids. Again people who made the choice to come encourage their kids instead of some other activity that might be more appealing than a long soccer game in the hot sun and that is love.

There was a high school band playing at the river by Plants Ferry park and who knows what that was about but it added to that whole feeling that life is meant to be shared and celebrated.

On my way back from the Argonne trail head I am heading up a steep hill ( at least for me it is) As I get just pass the top a man comes by on his bike and says "good job" and smiles. Did he see me struggle up the hill ? I don't know but he did not have to say a thing and the fact that someone took the time to encourage a stranger is an act of love.

I have talked about all the wonderful nature that I have so enjoyed encountering on the trail but today it was all about humanity and hope and love. In the days ahead I will encounter people who make me cranky and frustrate me. In the back of my head I want to remember this Sunday ride and how hopeful it made me feel.