Gracie, our Maine coon. (Dave Pidgeon)
Last post, I wrote about an upcoming trip to the Adirondack High Peaks and how I saw it as raising a lot of questions about my hiking lifestyle. Alison, my wife, and I are expecting a baby boy soon, and I wondered if this Adirondacks hiking trip would be the last adventure of any kind for a long while.
On the eve of the trip, however, something became very clear – before I am a hiker, I am a husband first.
Alison called me at work Wednesday morning. She was tearful, mournful. Our vet had told us that our cat Gracie, a long-living and personable feline if there ever was one, was experiencing kidney failure, and it was time for us to do our duty as pet owners. It was time to let her go.
Alison has owned Gracie since her college days in Pittsburgh, Pa., when she rescued her as a stray Maine coon with long gray hair and half a white mustache. Gracie has been by Alison’s side through many a good and bad day.
Gothics rises among the Adirondack High Peaks. (Andy Arthur / flickr)
Let’s face it. Pets are a part of the family. Alison and I are not crazy-cat people by any means, but we are affectionate and immensely enjoy the people and pets in our lives. We are creatures of social habits. And when one of our circle has to leave, an emptiness blankets the house for some time.
How could I leave Alison in this house for four days after losing one of her best friends? How could I go about tromping around the mountains when my wife and soul mate grieves at home?
I am a husband first; a hiker second.
“But you’ve waited six years to go,” she said last night about my Adirondacks trip, noting how the last time I was there was in 2005.
And I can wait another one if I have to. The mountains and the trails, they’ll always be there, but moments when you can be a husband, the consoler-in-chief of the house, those times don’t come along often. And when they do, it’s our duty to rise to the occasion.
Maybe next year I can meander around the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. Maybe next year I won’t go alone. Think a baby boy would enjoy crawling on top of Mount Marcy?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Good decision, good man.
robin
This is the kind of thing that makes me think twice about how opposed I really am to a limited cell-tower presence in the deep woods. It’s a tough thing to commit to two or three days of communication blackout with your home base. A (major) detail I left out of that winter-hiking piece I sent you was the fact that, at the motel the night before going up the trail my wife called me with some concerning news about one of my daughters. My wife told me she had the matter in hand and green-lighted my planned four-day hike. After two nights in the Whites with my four-man crew (and, luckily, a summit), my fears about what was happening back home became too much for me and I told the boys I had to leave. The worst part was that meant one of the guys was going to have to go with me because he was my ride. He — the only nonmarried, nonfather among us — was exceedingly cool about the whole thing. Long story short: It was a good thing I came home when I did. The situation called for some tricky parenting, which I was able to be part of. … Months later, all is well (knock wood) … and I have plans to visit the ‘Dacks with the crew in January. … And, as usual, the “weather forecast” for the home front will be as big a determining factor as satellite images for the High Peaks.
You’re a good man. Enjoy your hike next time around.
Well done. The Adirondacks will be waiting for you. =)
Great choice and one I have to make almost every time I get into my car and head to the trailhead.