Forward by son Nate "Tha Wookie" Olive
My mother, Bobbi, has a knack for getting people connected to the outdoors and hiking. She and my father took me at age 4, and I've been trucking along ever since. She is also my trail journal transcriber, and when I write them, I write so that she can understand the experience. Not one step of anything I've taken could be possible without her.
Today, as I write this, she lays in a hospital bed, recovering from her third joint replacement, after two new hips and now a knee. It all started when she fell out of my treehouse when I was young, and she has been struggling to hike ever since.
Her surgery has left her with a dangerous condition, a pulminary embolism, or blood clot in the lungs. Right now, she needs your positive thoughts and prayers, to help her dissolve that potentially fatal clump of blood. Please take a minute to send her a message, in our guestbook. Every message she gets will be printed and taken to her in the hospital. Please, tell a friend or two while you're at it.
Ya'll have heard enough from me. Here's her words, from an unpublished journal she wrote in winter '05.
Bobbi and Grandson Hunter
Sunday, January 9, 2005 new!
Although David wasn’t feeling very well today, he insisted on making his delicious sausage and cheese omelets to celebrate our fourteenth anniversary. We enjoyed the beautiful arrangement of lilies, mums and various other lovely flowers he had brought to me the day before, as we chatted and devoured the delightfully satisfying breakfast. He didn’t feel up to walking, though, and the dogs were more than willing to accompany me to the car, the park and the trail. It must have been a real sight to see a fifty-six year old arthritic woman carrying a stick and a camera, with two dogs on leashes. But it felt right for me, and that’s what I did. The walk, in the beginning was pleasant, but there were more folks on the trail than I had seen the first two days, and because of my slow pace and the narrow trail, I very often would need to pull the dogs to the side to let others pass. Sunday brought more families and more individuals with dogs. Face and Mojo politely greeted people and dogs on the way to the new bridge.
Once at the bridge, I set up the timer on my camera and made a few shots with Face and Mojo. While I was still on the bridge, a mother and daughter appeared and offered to help me out by taking a couple of pictures of me with the dogs. I told them about my goal to some day reach the bridge and of my great satisfaction in having done it three times now. They were full of congratulatory comments and wished me well with my health, my dogs, and my walks. I enjoyed immensely watching the pair take pleasure in the beauty around them as they pointed out to each other pretty rocks and other wonders of nature below the bridge. I thought of Maggie and wished her well at school and of Nate and Sarah and their present adventures and undertakings. I had a sense of pride for them all as I understood the love and attention the two on the bridge shared with each other. I hoped for that mother even half the love and fulfillment I have experienced with my children, and for many more happy memories like the ones they were making right then.
As I stood on the bridge after the mother and daughter had departed,
I realized that I was still feeling tired and worn down from the cold
I’d been fighting for several days. I decided not to continue forward,
but rather to turn around and return the same way I had come. As we were
nearing the place we had began the trail, a little boy on a shiny new
bicycle met me and we chatted about his new bike, which he was obviously
very proud of. He pointed ahead to his family also approaching, with their
two very large dogs, telling me the dogs’ names and pointing toward
them. As they reached us, I was about to speak to his parents, when Face
lunged at the dogs, with hair on his neck raised, teeth showing, and letting
out a monstrously loud and frightening growl! His behavior was extremely
unusual and unexpected, but I could only assume that he felt a need to
protect. I was as surprised and shocked as everyone else around, and moved
as quickly as I possibly could away from them back up the trail, expressing
a facial apology and scolding Face at the same time, mostly for the benefit
of the victims.. Mojo responded appropriately, staying right with Face
and me as I pulled them both quickly away from the trail and the onlookers.
I will never know for sure exactly what Face was thinking, but I do know
that I will need to handle him more cautiously in the future, knowing
now what he’s capable of doing.
I couldn’t get to the car fast enough! Face was calm and cool again
immediately after the “enemy” was out of sight. I will need
to think long and hard about a repeat of this particular threesome on
the trail.
Saturday, January 8, 2005 new!
Last evening I shared with David about my huge accomplishment and how exciting it was to visit the beautiful new bridge and that I wanted to return again and take him with me. He was happy for me and agreed to join me when I returned for a second walk around the lake. Our day was filled with studying for him and chores around the house for me. Then finally late in the day I asked, “Are you ready to hit the trail?” He had had a fall from a ladder in October, resulting in three fractures in his left arm, which had halted his daily long walks with our Shepherd mix, Face. I suggested we take Face and Mojo (Nate’s dog), along. I knew they were as ready to get out of the house as we were.
Grampa Dave Matthews, Mojo, Face (hiding), and Hunter
We parked once again at the playground area and proceeded to walk to the trail and forward toward our goal. Both dogs loved the walk and seemed thrilled to be on the familiar path they both had traveled with Sarah and Nate and also, with Maggie. Face, a male, wanted to sniff and stop every few feet, so the walk to the bridge seemed longer than when I went alone. Mojo, in her ever-focused way of moving, kept forward, oftentimes pulling me slightly as if she knew her strength was more than enough for both of us. Before we had left home, I’d decided to take the camera along, so that I could send a photo to Nate to document I had actually been on the bridge.
We walked quietly, meeting several other walkers this time, some also with dogs, who exchanged greetings with Face and Mojo. Upon reaching THE bridge, we stopped to make pictures and to catch our breath before moving on over the bridge and into the second half of the trail. David had a very easy time with the walk and I was glad to see he was still in good shape, in spite of his time off from his daily walks. At one point we slowed down at a very narrow place to allow a couple with a little girl and their small dog to pass. How refreshing to see families taking out time to take a walk in the woods and actually talking! The little girl was seeing everything and expressing her findings to her parents as they walked. It reminded me of my walks in the woods with Nate and Douglas when they were very young and how they, too, discovered the beauty there for us to enjoy. It also reminded me of how we loose that desire to see what’s right in front of us as we get older, as health problems invade us, as life worries distract us, as we just plain get in too big of a hurry! I slowed down to watch all that was around my feet, my hands, my eyes. Mojo slowed down, too.
Thirst hit at the big challenge point (the upward climb where I hugged
the tree yesterday), but I hadn’t brought along water. Also, I couldn’t
easily get my knee in a comfortable position to make the climb up and
hold on to the leash at the same time, so David took Mojo’s leash
while I climbed, once again using the tree as my support. Although the
stick I brought along today was so beneficial in relieving some of the
discomfort in my knees, I had a difficult time managing the stick and
a leash. But I still decided that it would be much better to use one than
not to have one at all. We didn’t chat much, nor did we make any
amazing nature discoveries. But what we did do was get some much needed
exercise for both man and beast! I was running out of energy, so we decided
that I would just keep walking up the street that leads to our street,
rather than continue walking around the lake back to where the car was
parked. And David would pick me up wherever he met me on the road. As
Mojo and I kept walking toward the street, I saw Face turning to see where
we were, and wondering why we weren’t still following him and David.
(So typical of sweet dear concerned and always interested Face.) We were
half-way to our street when they reached us! Mojo and I were smoking!
But it did feel good to get in the car and ride the rest of the way home.
And the water was oh, so good!
Friday, January 7, 2005
Today was a new day. I drove Maggie, my youngest child and only daughter, back to The University of Georgia yesterday, and I was missing her already. She’s always been a tremendous help to me, both physically and emotionally. She’s my soul mate and friend. I was feeling lonely and frustrated, so I decided to drive to the park (only a few blocks from home) and walk a little of the path that surrounds Murphy Candler Lake. Nate had shared with me on more than one occasion about the beautiful new bridge he’d discovered while running the path the last time he was in town. His descriptions of the beautiful bridge and the woods further into the park had invited me to attempt a longer walk some day. I wanted so much to see the new bridge myself, but still recovering from a second total hip replacement, it would be a long time before I’d be strong enough to get that far! I was still walking only a short distance when I did walk, and over a mile around the lake seemed completely out of reach in this lifetime! But before Nate had left on his latest journey, he had encouraged me to try driving to the lake and just walking as far as I could and to keep trying until I got to the bridge.
Nate has a way about him that can motivate even his mother to do the impossible! I found a place to park my car that was slightly closer to the bridge and walked through the play area to meet the path and just walked. Remembering “one small step at a time” from Nate and Sarah, I felt their presence with me as I did just that. The distance became unimportant and I moved on, taking another step, and another and another. I crossed a small bridge and wandered if this was “THE bridge”. No, it couldn’t be because it was way too soon. Putting one foot in front of the other, pretty soon I crossed still another small bridge, very much like the first one. A few minutes later, a lean young woman met me, running, and slowed down to smile and greet me. I asked her if the bridge I had just crossed was the newest bridge and she told me, “No, there’re two, another smaller one, then another one, and then you’ll see the new one. Ecstatic, I couldn’t turn back then! I was on a high, and I mean a really big high! I was nearing THE bridge! A few minutes later, immediately, after crossing the final smaller bridge, there it was—the beautiful big new bridge! Tears welled up in my eyes. I was getting better—a lot better! My bridge had come to me.
Hunter reaches bridge with Grandma Bobbi
I had a little trouble stepping up the incline of the bridge, but I held on for dear life and fought the pain in my arthritic left knee while grabbing the side rail and slowly pulling myself forward. All was quite, except for the forest birds, the water flowing under the bridge, and my heavy breathing. I just stood there, turning all the way around several times, in disbelief. “I’m here, I made it to the bridge”, I whispered to the world. Then I asked myself, “What do I do now?” The answer was still the same, “Put one foot in front of the other, one step at a time.” Nate and Sarah were still with me. I walked down the other side of the wooden bridge and I kept moving around the trail, at one point reaching a climb where I actually hugged a tree to be able to take the next step upward. But I did it!
Hunter hugs a tree like Grandma Bobbi
The walk became more and more pleasant as the path continued on, and I realized the trail was so near houses that I passed everyday in my car. And the view of the lake was so different from the other side! And I was still moving! At about ¾ of the way around I wanted to jump up in the air and shout! I did shout, but my body wouldn’t physically allow me to complete the attempt to jump. My heart, however, was jumping for joy! I told Nate, “I can’t believe I am walking around Murphy Candler Lake!” Thank you for your faith in me. You told me I would be able to do this someday. I just didn’t know it would be today!”
Hunter leads the way!
Continuing on around the lake was more reward. It felt exhilarating and tiring and I was happy! I was wishing I could call my husband, David, somehow, right then to tell him about my accomplishment--and I would tell him soon. But I wanted to tell someone right then! Right before the actual end of the trail around the lake, the fast runner I had met earlier, approached me again, and called out, “I take it, you found the bridge!” “Yeah”, I answered, “I did.” It felt good to tell someone, although she had no idea what a momentous moment it really was for me. I finished the walk around the lake, passed once again through the playground area and back to my car. I just sat there a while reliving my first visit to the new bridge and the walk around the entire lake! I knew it wouldn’t be my last.
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