The analogies of life: Part 6

I'm a man that enjoys a good long walk from time-to-time.  I'll be the first one to admit that I don't do it enough; you don't get to my level of girth by consistently getting a required amount of cardio. 

Anyhoo; for Christmas, my mom bought me the Ken Burns Documentary series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."  I've been watching them and I must say that I have been quite inspired by John Muir and all the other players who have found the spirituality of mother nature.  When you consider that Muir, Roosevelt (Teddy), Thoreau, and the major outdoorsmen of the 19th and early 20th centuries all could justify an exponentially old world with their Christian faiths, it just goes to show what kind of relatively recent phenomenon the "creationist" movement is.  But I digress.  All these men seemed to find analogy, symbolism, and meaning "through the wonders of God's creation."  Those men had the Grand Tetons, Glacier Canyon, and Walden Pond; I don't, however.  I'm in Waco, TX; I have Cameron Park.

Now Cameron Park isn't bad.  I think they have about 20-plus miles of single track trails swirling through trees directly adjacent to the Brazos River.  In search of my own analogy about becoming a father and since I'm a firm believer in the idea of making mountains out of molehills (and I'm trying to not be a fat bastard), I decided to take a hike through Cameron Park.

I've mountain biked through Cameron Park before so I thought, "no big deal."  Well, when you're on a bike, your constricted by the two wheels and confined to the trail, not out of choice but out of necessity.  So in search of the analogy, armed with only my wits and a pocket knife, I parked my truck and traversed the wicked trails of Cameron.  I planned on only being gone for about an hour or so; so I decided not to take any water with me.

If you glance at our map (top), you can see that I started on the Red X, walked the trail some way, then decided to deviate; that's where the "green" comes in.  After, about 10 minutes in "the green," I was more lost than I have ever been.  I backtracked over the same path about three times and somehow landed on the other side of the park, on a city street at 19th and Park Lake Drive.  Now, if you've never been through Waco, or "north waco" as it's known, you might not know that this part of town is a non-gentrified area and won't be for some time.  That last sentence sounded pretty white and I'm not proud of those statements.  But, I'd be lying if I didn't state that I, at least once, thought about how I could kill a pit-bull with a pocket knife, if one were to attack me. 

Once I hit 19th and Park Lake, I knew where I was.  The next step was to get back to my truck.  Well, I could have chanced the trail one more time or I could chance 19th/18th.  Neither was a great option but I knew with the latter option, there was only one turn involved.  If you follow the blue, you'll see that I found my way back.  According to google (and my best estimates) I ended up walking for about 5.4 miles and 2.5 hours. 

Around the time I hit Mannafest Church on 18th, where the word of God is made "Mannafest" everyday (get it?), I realized the hard analogy I was searching for, "I'm an idiot and I need direction."  Truth be told, I was searching for something a little more subtle. For millions of years, man has raised children while traveling, using only the wind and their celestial sky marks as guidance.  I live in the post-map world; a world of cell phones and GPS units and either my pride or my idiocy is such a hindrance that I can't make it through a walking trail.  A race of illiterate mongoloids (anthropologically speaking - not Downs) could traverse the Bearing Strait.  I, with a master's degree, couldn't negotiate the Brazos.  It isn't very inspiring. 

You know what else.  Since the pregnancy, Carmen has been a bit absent-minded.  All women suffer through this.  It's got something to do with the blood vessels expanding and not constricting enough, therefore, not enough blood gets through the brain.  I'm not really sure exactly.  This isn't the most researched blog but if you've read this entire post, it shouldn't surprise you.  So anyway, she can blame her absent-mindedness on pregnant brain, I can only blame Riley brain. 

As incredibly pessimistic tone as this post has, I'm not too worried.  I feel I may have caught my idiocy early enough to counter it.  As my friend Myles says, "admitting is the first step."