The things we take for granted

Several years ago, we went hiking in Shenandoah National Park in Northern Virginia, but even with the covered woods, the bright sun beat down on us. My shirt was soaked with sweat and dirt.

The climb back up the hill where we parked was slow. I would walk for a minute or two and then stop and then continue on for a few minutes more. My wife and I had been completing our little game of stop and start for the past half hour. We were both exhausted.

I could feel my sore muscles with every step, but I pushed on because I knew we were getting closer to the parking area, where we’d get refreshed with cold drinks and maybe a snack. The parking lot couldn’t come fast enough.

Sure enough, we made it to our destination and cooled off on a picnic bench under a grove of trees. As tired as we both were, my wife gave me a crazed look when I told her that I was glad we completed the hike but couldn’t wait to do it again in the future.

She looked up at me and asked “Have you lost your mind?”

I supposed I had. When I dream about bucket list places I want to visit, I find I often dream about mountains and parks like Shenandoah National Park; Yellowstone National Park spanning across Wyoming, Idaho and Montana; Zion National Park in Utah, Yosemite National Park in California, and many others.

Yellowstone celebrates a big birthday of sorts this week. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on March 1, 1872, creating one of the world’s first national parks and later the creation of the National Park Service. We’re fortunate to have the National Park System. In 2022, the National Park Service received 312 million recreation visits, up 15 million visits from 2021.

Parks with the most number of visitors each year include:

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park—12.94 million visits.
• Grand Canyon National Park—4.73 million visits.
• Zion National Park—4.69 million visits.
• Rocky Mountain National Park—4.3 million visits.
• Acadia National Park—3.97 million visits.
• Yosemite National Park—3.67 million visits.

The park service got me thinking about a few other things that we take advantage of, but don’t appreciate enough. Oh, yes, family, food, clothes, shelter, and a host of other “necessities” are big on that list, but I was thinking a bit more narrow focused. Here’s my list:

–Clothes warm right out of the dryer or dry from the line.

–A homemade meal. This list would be long. My mother-in-laws chicken. I’m sure it has so much butter that doctors probably have it outlawed. My wife’s meatloaf. You think meat loaf, okay, can’t be all that great and then you take a bite and realize that nothing else even compares.

–My dog Nittany lying her head on your leg.

–A sunny day after a lengthy spell of rainy days.

–A hot shower.

–Cell service. Think this doesn’t matter. Ask AT&T customers who were without service late last week. You need to make a call and you can’t get a bar. It’s rare, but when it happens, you realize how special it is.

–Friends who accept you. There’s nothing else like finding “your people.” You know when you have.

–A thank you card.

What are some things that you regularly use, but oftentimes take for granted?