Stories

A little over 6 miles on the trails today with my good friend the Doc, lalo. We ran mid day in my usual stomping grounds of Leon creek. It was very warm with temps hovering at about 90 degrees. L, a great friend, recently commented on how running with good friends seems to make the effort less taxing. The miles just breeze on by.
I am blessed to have so many friends that enjoy the simple pleasures of traversing through nature. Also recently, I texted my friend Chris about how much we seem to enjoy running with each other and really, many of us are releasing stress as we are "dropping our bag of junk" out on the trail. That's how I feel many times as we share stories.
L related a great story about his best friend growing up. His friend was from a simple humble family that worked hard together to survive. The family traveled as migrant workers in the summer but always attending a full year of school was most important. L's friend worked hard and achieved his dream when he graduated from the Air Force academy and is now an Air Force Pilot. This is a good example of stories we share and stories that make us happy.
Not all stories are so good. I shared a story about one of my friends growing up. Billy is no longer with us. His life did not go so well. Troubles that we may never understand plagued him but memories of the good times we had growing up live forever in my mind and remind me of how fortunate I am.
Late this afternoon I received a call form another old friend. Ruben and I spent many hours on the roads of the Texas Hill Country on our bicycles back in the early 80's. Along with my brother, Ruben is responsible for getting me up off my "ars" and engaged in physical activities. My brother was a bit more kind in telling me I should be exercising where as Ruben pulled no punches as he just laid it on! I guess we had become good friends by then. Here I was 15 years younger than him and had difficulty keeping up with him on the roads. I like to tell a story about Ruben and recently Brian reminded me of that story. Ruben had planned a long bicycle ride late one autumn morning. The route would be a beautiful challenging ride on the roads From Boerne Tx to Fredricksburg.
"But the Dallas Cowboys are playing at noon that day!" I said.
 Ruben looked me straight in the eyes and asked, "are YOU in the lineup?"
I went on the ride that day.
Ruben is back on his bike as he approaches his 69th birthday! He called to tell me he was getting lazy and realized he needs to keep fighting the slide. Others he called to ask for company on his bike rides never returned his calls. I promised Ruben I'd ride with him soon. I can't wait.
Maybe one day when I'm pushing 70 the aforementioned young whipper snappers will accompany me on a hike through the trails where we can exchange more stories.