To Spend Some Time

     Through our getting to know one another, we found out that we both love nature. We both love being outside in the world that God created. The beauty of God's scenery is so precious to us. My friend loves to go swimming, hiking, camping  and anything that has to do with the wilderness. I love to do all those things too. We started talking about doing one of these things together before graduating from the university. How special it would be. Just the two of us perhaps. Or with a group of friends, we didn't care, as long as we got to do it. As time went on, we became busy and forgot our plan. The last month of our college career, somehow we started to spend a little more time together. Maybe cause we had the same fears in common. We both loved the school a lot, many special memories. One day, we reminded each other of our plan of spending time in the wilderness. We wanted to spend some special time together before school ended. Time was running short. We both agreed that it would be the perfect time to do just that. My friend had an idea of what we could do, but she could not tell me. She wanted it to be a surprise. I would tease her about it, but still she would not tell me. When the day came to have our little date, she borrowed her friend's truck and we were off.  I still didn't know where we were going. My friend told me to hold on and be patient. I got excited. We first went to the mall and got ice cream. We took the ice cream with us as we traveled to where we were going. It was a nice ride past sceneries of wilderness and open fields, along the winding roads. My mind began to wonder and I had a feeling, hers did too. My mind always wonder whenever I go to the wilderness country. The drive felt like it went on and on, but we didn't mind. We finally arrived at the park. We grabbed our ice cream and sat on the grass overlooking a valley. It was a beautiful sight. We chatted on and on about anything and everything eating our ice cream. I read her a poem I wrote for her. It was my graduation gift to her. She loved it. We laid back, gazing up at the clouds in the sky. I was happy to be there and with my wonderful friend. After awhile we headed back to the truck, she was telling me about a path she hiked with some friends once. I wondered if we had time for some hiking even if we went on a little hike. We had to be home at a certain time. She said that we had some time left, so we went to find the path. As we walked a long, we ran into a lady fishing and asked if she caught something. She didn't catch anything. She said she was bored that day so she thought she would go fishing. We wished her a good day and walked on. My friend got some hiking sticks for us. We walked on and on, talking on and on. It was wonderful being there with my friend, just grand. We came to a small pond and there we stayed for a while. We talked about my friend's plans to be a teacher and somehow we got onto the subject of favorite children's stories from when we were little children and I told my friend that I knew 'Twas The Night Before Christmas by heart. She wanted me to tell it to her. So in the middle of May, hiking back from the pond, I told my dear friend the story of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. I felt silly, but it was fun. The whole afternoon was fun. We looked at the pretty flowers that were a long the path and picked some to have as a memory. I'm pressing some in my Bible. It was a joy to watch her face light up as she looked at the flowers. We hopped back in the truck with the flowers in our hands. I couldn't help laughing with joy from remembering the afternoon. On the way back home we listened to an Amy Grant tape. We loved this one song so much that we played it over and over. We fell in love with it, so it became our song. We sang along with the words, and I must say, we sounded pretty good. The afternoon that I spent with my friend in the wilderness was so wonderful. I will always hold that day as a precious memory.