The Chimneys

I have a new story to tell.  I think I am ready to tell you about one of the longest hikes I have ever taken.

Let’s go back to the Fall of 1994.  Hubs and I decided we would go to the UT/Alabama football game with 2 other couples from medical school.  One pair were UT fans and the other poor souls pulled for Alabama.  We borrowed a mini-van from our generous Sunday School teachers and headed across the state.  Our drive took a good 6 to 7 hours, but it passed quickly as conversation was plentiful.  There’s always a lot to say at the beginning of a trip, isn’t there? Our plan was to stay in a cabin in Gatlinburg, go to the UT game, and leave after breakfast on Sunday.  Let’s just sit and focus on the word “breakfast”.  I do believe that word is defined by the eating of food.  You eat breakfast in the morning.  It is the key to a successful day.  At least that is what my mom and dad always taught.

Maybe this would be the best time to describe my favorite 1994 breakfast food.  In Gatlinburg, there is a restaurant called The Pancake Pantry.  They serve pancakes (amidst eggs, blintzes, waffles, bacon, sausage).   You get the idea.  Well, they also serve Swiss Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  This was hands down my 1994, 1993, 1992 favorite.  In fact, chocolate chip pancakes were my favorite since way back when I was 8 or 9.  But the Swiss ones were tops – and only found in Gatlinburg.  So, you can understand how much I was looking forward to breakfast on Sunday morning.  Have I mentioned that we had been planning to have breakfast before we left the mountains?

So, we arrived at our cabin.  Slept.  Awoke.  Headed out to the game.  The game was a bust for the Alabama fans.  That was no tragedy.  We had a blast as a part of Big Orange Saturday.  We usually were trapped in our houses watching the games on our 26” televisions.  It is certainly more fun to be a part of the 90,000 people in orange.  Even though it is deafening.  After the game, we celebrated our victory and rubbed in their loss at some burger joint on the strip.  We then traveled back to Gatlinburg along with all 85,000 other Big Orange Fans.  Meaning:  the trip took forever on those traffic stricken curvy roads.

The next morning we arose slowly.  We ventured out to the living room.  I was imagining those fluffy chocolate chips melting in my mouth.  I was ready to shower and head out.  After all, there is always a long wait at The Pantry.  However, the rest of the crowd had a new idea.  They were “tossing around” the idea of hiking to The Chimneys.  Ummm, excuse me.  What about my pancakes?  No one seemed to care too much about my dream to indulge in pancakes.  The really didn’t care that I was not a big football fan and had agreed to the trip thinking that pancakes would be mighty tasty on Sunday.  I felt invisible.  My needs were absolutely and completely ignored.

In fact, 3 grown men were fully agreeable to skipping breakfast and hiking up a mountain just to see The Chimneys.  Because I am such a cooperative team player, I agreed to accompany them on their jaunt.  But I was steaming mad.  Mad as a hornet.  My feelings were hurt.  I was hungry.  And I am stubborn.  That is why, when everyone else fixed themselves pb & j sandwiches, I did not.  No, I was furious.  I was not cooperating with them.  No way, no how was I going to let them think I was happy with this ridiculous idea.  To be clear – all 3 men had class the next day in Memphis.  7 hours away.  And at 10 am, they were deciding to hike all day and then drive back across the state of TN.

Off we went.  Parked the car.  Up the mountain.  In our discussions, everyone else failed to mention to me that this hike would be straight up.  It was no leisurely hike.  No, it was level:  impossible.  Especially impossible on an empty stomach. It was a climb that took us 1350 feet up one side of the mountain and I have to say that I complained most of the way.  I looked for hope in the eyes of the hikers whom we passed.  I just wanted to see a promise of the trail easing up.  I needed them to tell me that I would make it.  I wasn’t sure.  Had I not been with these impossible men, I most certainly would have given way to tears.  But I was stubborn.  And foolish.

After about 2 hours of climbing, we did indeed reach the top.  Whoop-dee-do.  We were at the top of some mountain.  Gazing at I don’t know what – the chimneys.  At the top, most people sit down and have a picnic as they gaze at natural beauty.  Well,  those with food do anyway….   Unfortunately for me, I had nothing.  No lunch.  No breakfast.  No restaurants anywhere in sight.  I had to stand strong.  I am stubborn and to acknowledge that I needed food would have been weak.

I realized an amazing truth that day.  I mean, I knew it was true in words, but not in times of great sacrifice.  The truth?  I married a super guy and he really, really loved me.  He took his sandwich, broke it in two, and gave it to me.  Please note that I did not ask.  He didn’t ridicule me for being stubborn.  He didn’t embarrass me in front of our friends.  He very quietly and kindly, gave half of this squished pb &j sandwich to one very starving and humbled 24 year old girl.

I guess I learned a few things that day.  Food does make one feel better.  Stubbornness doesn’t get you anywhere when you are hungry.  The Pancake Pantry had been there for 40-somethin’ years and it would be there when I came back.  And most important of all:  I experienced how much he loved me.  He told me all of the time.  I just didn’t really see it until he had to sacrifice his own comfort for me.  Finally, I learned that he makes a really good peanut butter sandwich!