"Claudia!" A former student, I haven't seen in her since she graduated in 2005.
"What on earth are you doing in Tops? I thought you were still living in Italy!"
"I am. We're here on vacation!"
What a delight! She and her boyfriend came to the US on the 23rd and will stay till mid May. They flew into Toronto, visited Algonquin and saw a moose. She took her boyfriend to Tops and Walmart because big box stores are not found in Italy and they are a fascinating and strange representation of American life. I told her if he was awed by Tops, they ought to go to Wegman's. "Oh, yes! We're going there, too!"
She missed Fredonia. Even though she has no family left in town, she wanted to show him her home and visit old friends. She's a computer programer now who runs a website for a firm that deals in leather goods and cashmere sweaters. It depends on e-commerce and she designed the site that sells their products all over the world. It was hard to say goodbye because we could have talked for an hour.
We're all ready for tomorrow. The food, t-shirts, and extra gear are all loaded in the car. Our packs are packed and the water bottles are set up on the counter. I made a nice dinner so we'd have leftovers for tomorrow night's dinner.
Only three phone calls came today, fewer than I expected. One came from two girls whose deal on a tent fell through. Could they rent one? Yes. A dad or step-dad called. He just got the equipment list last night from the mom. The pack is a day pack. What can they do? We'll outfit the boy tomorrow. "And what's a moleskin?" he asked. Ahh, Steve said I should have told him we harvest them from our herd of backyard moles. But, no, I directed him to the foot care section at Walmart. He was already there to pick up the last few things the boy needed. Then, a text from Lily's mom. She has a fever. We don't know about tomorrow. Ok, just let us know in the morning.
This will be the first time in 22 years I won't be serving as a hike group leader. There are just too many other things for me to do now. It was time to let Shane step up and learn the job. We've got four more twenty-somethings in training for the position, too. I feel much less stress because I won't be trying to multi-task as I have been for years.
So, off we go, on our next great adventure!
Our friends at Tops who make sure that we have everything we need to feed 115 people on Quest.
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