CLOWNS
This is my second BLOG under my new Articles by Topic “Second Chances”. How many of you have been given second chances, opportunities and people making profound differences in our lives?
I belong to a group of hiking and snowshoeing enthusiasts called the “Clowns”. Our origin goes back many years, described in my story “Walking With Clowns” in my first memoir “Hiking Out”. This year we just celebrated our 45thannual winter “Clown” snowshoe trip. Our members have changed over the years, with the addition of sons, grandsons, son in laws, friends, the moving of members out of state, and the sad loss of two of our members to cancer and heart disease. At every meeting of “The Clowns” we pause to celebrate the lives of our departed friends. Some of us owe our ability to do these hikes, and even our lives, to the mobility and life saving advances of modern medicine. For me, as one of the founding members of the “Clowns”, I think of it as one of my “Second Chances” in life. Shortly after the group’s founding, I fell into a deep depression. Over the years, my membership in this group has been a source of strength and salvation. As I say often, “Hiking helped save my life!” The photograph is from this year’s Saturday snowshoe hike. I’m the one in front with the hunter orange cap and the red and gray parka, accompanied by my fellow “Clowns”.