The Hike

My best friend and I made a promise in high school that someday we would hike to the top of the mountain we could see from our town. We talked about it for ten years. Life kept getting in the way.

This spring we finally did it. We packed sandwiches and too much water and started at six in the morning. It was harder than either of us expected. We stopped often. We complained a lot. At one point we got a little lost and had to backtrack.

But we made it. We sat on a rock at the top and looked out over the whole valley: our town, our old high school, the river we used to swim in. Everything looked tiny and beautiful.

We didn't talk much up there. We didn't need to. We just ate our squished sandwiches and grinned at each other.

Some promises are worth keeping, even if it takes ten years.