Boot Prints on a Muddy Trail

“Boot Prints On A Muddy Trail” - Thinking of Bill Hearne…

“A funny thing happened on my way to… (fill in the blank)…”
Bill and I used to this say to each other - whenever we would start off a story, about some road trip, or run, or hike…
I couldn’t help but recall this when my wife called me Friday evening to tell me my dear friend Bill Hearne had passed away…
I was on my way to hike Mt. Seymour in the Adirondacks - as I worked through my 46 High Peaks…inspired to do so by Bill …
My wife said “Joe - Do you want to come home” and all I could say was “No - I need to hike and I need to think…”
Saturday morning broke cloudy - fitting of my mood, but I needed to hike, and to think, to brood… I set out and climbed hour after hour, until the clouds finally broke into light rains that soon became a shower and later a downpour…
Yet as much as the rain tried to distract me I couldn’t get out of my head that… “The funny thing that happened on my way to Mt. Seymour was that I learned that my friend of 25 years wouldn’t be there to hear the story any more…”
As the rain continued beating me down my heart and mind could no longer take the pain and I sat down and cried for a long, long time…
I just sat there on a rock and stared - at nothing in particular - when it occurred to me that it wasn’t so much that it was raining on me but that the “Adirondacks” were just crying along with me - for they too had lost a friend…
This is when I saw it - a boot print on the muddy trail - prints that led up the trail to the top of the mountain and then I realized the boot prints in the mud were a kind of sign - symbolic of the fact that Bill was always just up ahead a ways... up over the hill, around the next bend, waiting for me to catch up …
I thought of our times together and I thought that whenever I see boot prints on a muddy trail, or foot prints in the sand, or sneaker marks on the shoulder of the road that I’m going to think of Bill - up ahead somewhere … waiting around the bend… hands resting on his knees saying ..
“Well, I’ve been waiting - I just got here ahead of you…”
See you soon Bill… Thanks for waiting… Thanks for being our friend…

Joe Gilroy
Oven Door Runner