Bear Poop

                                                                           Bear Poop            

                I love the picture of Jesus sitting with children on his lap and all around him; his head is thrown back and you can tell one of them has just done or said something that tickled his funny bone. There may be some people who are offended to speak of Jesus as having a funny bone, but He was not only divine, He was human.

                I think He probably had his share of fun with his siblings, cousins and friends. I sometimes wonder why God didn’t allow him to get married so he could enjoy the total delight of having children of His own. But of course we know why, He wouldn’t have been around to help them grow up.

                There was a time in my life when I almost forgot how to have fun. Sometimes the responsibilities of life put a strain on our funny bones. But now that I am well into middle age, I love to laugh. And when you have three daughters who have given you three sons and eight grandchildren there is usually always something to laugh about.

                I have some good friends that I laugh with too. Sometimes when we are together, you would think we were a bunch of silly teen agers.

                One of my oldest friends introduced me to hiking. I love it and want to do as much as I can before my knees and hips wear out. We started to hike in the “little” mountains in Smokey Mountain National Park. The last hike we did was in the Canadian Rockies. That one was not a little mountain or an easy trail. But it was fun.

                One of the most fun hikes we have taken was one of the first ones we did in the Smokies.  We took off early in the morning for a day hike, all decked out in our new hiking clothes, boots, and sticks. And enough food and water in our back packs to feed an army for a week. You would have thought we were hiking the Swiss Alps.

                Before we took off, she wanted to know if I had brought any toilet paper. I had forgotten there were no bathrooms on this trail and we were going to have to get off the trail and squat to go. I had not done that since I was a child and I didn’t like doing it then. Men are so lucky in that way. I told her I wouldn’t need any because I wasn’t going to have to go because at that time I had a pretty healthy bladder. “Okay,” she said, “but you aren’t getting any of mine.

                About an hour down the road she was already hitting the bushes. I stayed strong. At lunch time we sat for awhile to eat and I limited my fluid intake, but so I wouldn’t have to a “go”.  I know that isn’t healthy but I wasn’t a seasoned hiker yet.

                We got about half way back and when she decided it was “time to go again”.  So off she went. It wasn’t two minutes later, we heard her screaming from the bushes. I half expected her to come running out with her pants around her ankles and a bear behind her. I was half right. Her pants were half down but there was no bear, just bear poop all over the back of her pants. She had dropped her drawers in a pile! 

                Of course that made me laugh until I almost peed my pants myself. It was then that I decided to either give up hiking, learn to like adult diapers or let go of my aversion to using the great outdoors for my bathroom.

              Is it any wonder I am ready for another hike? My funny bone feels like it could use a good work out!