Wednesday, May 20, 2009

a chance mountain-top encounter

I have plenty of crazy stories from my AZ trip, but none as synchronicious as what happened on the last day... Mom and I decided to get up early and hike up Camelback Mountain at sunrise. Anyone who likes hiking and has ever been to Phoenix has heard of and probably hiked Camelback - in fact, anyone who knows anyone who has ever hiked and KNOWS anyone who has ever been to Phoenix has probably heard of it. It seems to be a fairly popular spot in the morning before the sun gets too strong. Some of the Phoenix natives actually hike it multiple times before sunrise! I had heard about "Camelback Jack" from a friend (he's practically a legend in the area), but I saw "Camelback Jill" there yesterday. She went up and down 3 times during my single trek to the top! Anyway, all that aside, let me get back to the real story... Mom and I were going up fairly slowly, taking pictures and enjoying the scenery, so many people passed us on our way up. I didn't pay much attention (as usual). There were three guys hiking up together... I didn't actually look at them, but one said something to Mom, so I did notice them (enough to see they were not in uniform... hahaha). Well, when I got to the top, I was looking out over the city, enchanted by the breath-taking view, when I heard a voice behind me: "excuse me?" he said. I turned around and to my utter shock and amazement, I knew this particular guy! "Jeremy?!" I asked, not actually in need of an answer - I knew immediately that it was indeed Jeremy, a guy I had not only met in college, but who is also going into the same OCS class that I will be in. We chatted for a couple of minutes and parted ways with a "see ya next week." "OORAH!"
What can I say? Life is just funny like that. Oh, and for the record, I do not believe in chance... I just think that God has a great sense of humor.

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