Crazy Lady in the Woods

I am not the crazy lady in the woods. At least, not the one I am blogging about. Last night I decided to be adventuresome, get up early this morning, and hike back up to the WWII memorial. Seemed like a good Sunday morning activity given our 100+ degree weather. About halfway up, I decided to take a break on a bench and drink some of my precious water. As I was sitting there, I saw an older lady hiking down the hill toward me. Upon closer inspection, I saw that she was wearing a long sleeved shirt with a sweater over it. That should have been my first clue. When she got close, she came right over to the bench and sat down about half an inch from me. That should have been my second clue. She began talking to me, despite my protests that "I don't understand". Then she started touching my arm, right on my scar - clearly asking what it was from. I drew my hand away and repeated that "I don't understand". That didn't deter her, however, she next began touching my rings. So I moved away from her. I get that there might be different cultural standards of personal space, but no other unknown Bosnian has ever touched me (except maybe in a line - they have really close lines here). I guess it was the heat, but she didn't seem to be understanding my nonverbal clues that I don't want her to touch me and she should leave me alone. She continued talking to me, and clearly indicated that she wanted some of my water. Having heard Savi and Michelle's story about sharing beverages and being just plain creeped out, I really didn’t' want to share my water with her. It's a long, hot walk to the top, and frankly, I thought I would need it. Besides, she was coming from the top where I knew you could refill water bottles for free (she was carrying one, it was just empty). Plus - if you're that hot and thirsty, take off your sweater, okay? But it was over 100 degrees, and she was old. . . was I really going to not share my water? So I poured half of my water into her bottle and decided I needed to get out of there. I left the bench and took off up the hill. Still feeling a little weird about the situation, I turned around to check on her. To my surprise, she was following me up the hill. This only inspired me to hike faster. I mean, if I can't out-hike an elderly woman in a sweater and skirt, something's wrong. I turned around a second time to see if she was gaining on me, only to find that the chase was off. Instead, she was about a foot off the trail, still in plain sight, pulling down her pants and squatting. Having seen just about enough, I turned back around and really started to book it up the hill. At least she wasn't following me any more. Seriously, if she had dropped out of a tree onto me on my hike back down I would not have been surprised.

Once she wasn't around I enjoyed the rest of my hike.