On The Road 5

Sometimes, you do so much in one day - you forget.
You forget all about the scenery you saw from the car's window, the smell of shitty coffee with a vanilla creamer, waking up by a bear safe dumpster, (a thing you don't do every day in your city), the countless walks out and in the car to a vista point, a lake, another lake, a cool stop on the way, and another one, and another... Sometimes you forget, because so much has happened and you find yourself in the end of the day wondering: 'what did I do today?' And being grateful to live in a time when everything is documented on your phone so all you have to do is browse through your photos from the day. Your hundreds of photos from the week. 

But with or without your phone - some things will stay memorable forever.
Maybe they are single moments, or view points, or adventures on your way, or maybe - like what happened to me today - they are a chance encounter with your past. An encounter so unexpected, so out of the blue in the most random of places:

We pull by Tenaya Lake. It's a beautiful afternoon, and we are making good time on the road, so we decide to hop in for a swim or a dip in this majestic lake in the northern part of Yosemite National Park. It's not crowded, but some people are bathing, picnicking, paddle boarding. We pass by a family. Seemingly - a father, two children, and their grandparents. We recognize the Hebrew words spoken between them, and start a chat. 'Do you live here or over there?' Where did you come here from? Oh, you live close to each other, how funny!' Practically neighbors.' Etc. One thing leads to another and we find out I have gone to kindergarten with the father. (!) Yes, this man we randomly stumbled into in a remote part of Yosemite National Park, may have actually been my first boy crush in life. I don't remember much because I was five and have had an avalanche of crushes since, but the five year old in me was giggling inside. The woman in me was simply in awe of the random encounter, while the five year old me was gently bringing back memories of this old old friend and lil' ole me.

So today the road brought me a surprise, a blast from the past. A message from lil' me: 'keep going. Keep roading. Keep on keepin' on, I'm with ya.' You can forget all the pretty views you see, but don't forget about me.'