This is our only
amazing memento of our HHHash last night.
****
Last night I almost didn't participate in the habitual Saturday Hash. It was an evening flashlight hash. And I didn't feel like it.
It'd been a
long day. Well truth be told it's been a
long week, and with the Mango Madness it's been a
frustrating week.
But wait, it's all about perspective isn't it?? Truly?? The words we use to Define and Describe our Moments. Moments that become our Memories.
It's all about the Adjectives we use, isn't it?
I could equally be saying it's been a
Great and
Fantastic Week. And it was.
We got a lot done, Banyan looks A-Mazing !! Life could be be tonnes worse than Mango Madness. Like Brett from Underwater Solutions and his encounter with a Stone Fish. (And even that could have been worse). And a friend of a friend, who from one minute to the next suffered a massive stroke. And so on.
Major Life Changing events that happen in, snap of the fingers, a split second. We all know about those.
And so I prefer to tell you, dear readers and friends, that it's been a really great week filled with Great times, Great Food, Great Friends. Great Sunsets (that almost didn't happen but did!). Lots of Belly Laughs. Filled with Fantastic Exercise. Some Shiny BoatWork that resulted in some great Body Scrubbing Marina Showers. We are truly fortunate and blessed and it's been a Great Week.
And that is why, with only five minutes left to go before departure time, I quickly changed my mind and my clothes, grabbed my running shoes, and told my achy body and a headache that wouldn't go away (probably the side-effects to the Prednisone?) to Go Away, and told everyone to "Hey, wait for me !!
With flashlight in hand we walked over to the meeting point, which was, surprisingly just down the street from Port Louis Marina.
And even though I was feeling quite woozy and lightheaded, the energy from seeing friends and fellow hashers getting together, ready to go scrambling in the darkness of night, was exhilarating and filled with Adventure and spurred me on with an Energy I didn't even know I had.
I didn't take my camera, so there are no photos to show you.
What I can show you, are what I see when I walked onto my cockpit this morning.
The well used running shoes, sitting out to air dry and get rid of the ankle biting ants that we got swarmed with.
The Sweat Drenched clothes that were washed late last night, and are drying in this morning's warm breezes and sunshine.
And if you look past the clothes, to the hillsides off Banyan's bow,
you can see that that's where we hiked. All along the ridge from left to right, and up and down, and back again. In the darkness of night. With only flashlights pointing the way over boulder and down scrambly hills and past the quite large, and quite horned Bovine that was being guarded by its owners.
Or rather, the owners who were standing by keeping us safe lest this large and horned Bovine charge at us. Who would'a ever thunk?? How could we possibly explain?? This experience to any of our friends and readers??
That we go walking in the dense jungles of Grenada, up incredibly steep hills all the while being careful not to fall into the body deep ditches on either side of the road, following the mounds of shredded paper that have us
willingly turning left into the pitch black thicket of seeming nothingness, allowing the small circle of light that is our flashlight guide our way down to ravines and across golf fields all leading us to who knows where. On On !!
The best experience of last night's hash? Passing through the little congregation of houses that might be called a village, and the local families sitting on the age old historical stone fences surely cemented together by sweat and time.
"Good night" we said as we walked by.
"Alright, alright... " they responded, "good night, good night"
It is a common practice here to say "Good Morning", or "Good Afternoon" or "Good Night" as a greeting, pending time of day.
Nevertheless, I keep trying and by the end of the evening, it almost became natural. almost, but not quite. And when we say Good Night to the Shadow of a Shape that emerges towards us, and asks to buy our Torch, we smile.
"Not tonight", we answer, "We need it to get back home".
And we pass by a rickety wooden house standing on stilts, the children outside clapping their hands, smiles as big as day, and loudly cheering us on. The parents standing on the porch above, hidden in the shadows, pointing the way, and responding with "Good Night". And all this with the incessant and urgent barking of dogs, growling their displeasure at being forced to their call of guard duty this late at night.
We were their Saturday Night Entertainment.
Think about that. WE were their Saturday night entertainment. How Cool and Strange and Heart-Stopping and almost Awe-Inspiring is that?
We hope you've recently used your Running Shoes for some Heart-Stopping and Awe-Inspiring treks that had you, on a Saturday night, out and about in your neck of the woods, your torch pointing the way.
In whatever way works for you, Be Someone Else's Entertainment !! Your Life will be Glad you Did.