Silver Linings

Today’s inspiration comes from my child hood friend Roy.

Before I share his inspiring story, I am sharing a sweet memory with Roy, and my friends Beth and Peter.

One April day, for my friend Beth’s 17th birthday celebration, we hiked up Giant Mountain in the Adirondacks.

At the base of the mountain, it was in the 50s and sunny at 9am. Peter was in jeans, old sneakers, t-shirt and a plum colored chamois shirt. The rest of us had coats and layers and boots. Peter was optimistic and put a hat in his pocket for the colder peak temperatures.

As we climbed the trail became colder, icier, and snowier. About half way up the mountain, Peter took off at a brisk pace that surprised and confused us.

Roy slowed down to fix his boot. We waited. As we got toward the top of the mountain, the snow was waist deep with ice underneath it. It was challenging. Approaching the rocky peak was foggy and you could only see about six feet ahead.

When we got to the mountain top, we had the most magical view though. Peter had blown up a huge bouquet of balloons and sang Happy Birthday. It was so beautiful. And then he, quite rightly, wanted to run back down the mountain to get warm. Peter is amazing. I think Roy was in on it too, delaying us so there was time to blow up all the balloons.  It’s a gift I’ll always treasure.

Roy shared a more recent inspiring series of stories on a podcast called This is my silver lining a few years ago. It’s a moving series about losing his wife to cancer, his new wife’s story of losing her husband to cancer, and then their marrying and blending families.