Want to chat? First, we need a hill…..

We all need a hill!

When I go for my regular walks along the river pathways, I am always ready to chat with anyone with whom I can initiate a conversation.  It ain’t the easiest thing to do, however. Except on the hill!

The pathway meanders along, following the contours of the river bank. It can get quite busy as solitary or groups of walkers, runners, cyclists, etc. all walk, run, stroll, cycle, the afternoon away. So many interesting looking faces! But the most that is available from those faces is a polite nod. It’s not that way on the hill!

Most folks do not make eye contact. Hey, maybe seeing a senior in shorts and a tank top is just too much for them to look at, directly! But it’s different on the hill!

Along the pathway, you come to a fork where another path leads away from the riverside and up a fairly steep hill, into the residential area. I have taken that zig-zag trail many times and have counted the strides to get to the top….works out to be about 350 yards.

While you are left pretty much to yourself down along the river path, things seem to work a bit differently here. You can chat and interact with folks as they attack that hill. It’s as if we are now fellow teammates, and actively seeking the support or assurance of us all is a necessary requirement in order to accomplish the climb.

There is a bench about halfway up, carved out of logs. It’s reassuring to see it there, if needed, but we usually keep walking and chatting. Don’t want to trade a rest stop for good conversation!

Today I meet a couple trying to cycle to the top on bikes with oodles of gears. He makes it. She cannot. In fun I propose that I push her up the hill. We laugh about how come her partner isn’t pushing but merely awaits her arrival at the top. Just casual hill chatter!

On my way back down the hill, I stop to chat with a gentleman about my age, who can only go 50 yards at a time, before he needs to stop to catch his breath. (I don’t say too much about my target of 12 trips up that hill today) We chat about his family, his working days and the heart surgeries he has had. He challenges the hill as if his life depended on it….and it does, according to him. He shows me his little bottle of pills…just in case he needs them. I have seen him several times this summer. He always stops to ask if I am doing okay. We are friends because we climb a hill.

A younger lady is running the hill. She quickly explains that she is training for a marathon. She doesn’t stop to chat but tosses us a few motivating words and smiles her appreciation as we encourage her. She might win that marathon because of our hill.

Another lady is using the hill ‘to get into a summer dress for a fall party’ and is powering herself up the hill with a determination that is inspiring…..and lots of perspiring! And I hear her laughingly say, “If that so and so doesn’t appreciate what I‘m doing for him……”  We agree because she is, after all, talking about our hill, which has now become her hill as well.

The same kinds of people walk the level trail as do the hill, or are they the same? What is the difference?

Do we need some kind of common obstacle in order for us to look to another in conversation? Is the hill a kind of permission that gives us the freedom to be a bit more vulnerable?

Maybe there is as much challenge to look at another person and chat as there is in puffing and gasping  your way up that hill. So the climbers are also the conversational risk-takers?

Forget the analysis! Today was a good day for a walk with some new friends. Oh, and whom do we speak with, in order to build more hills? Maybe that would matter a great deal.

Rich