Mohonk Preserve

The trails at the Mohonk Preserve are truly spectacular.  I walked on the undercliff(i think that's what it's called) trail for about an hour last weekend with my parents.  The view from up there down to the Hudson Valley is seriously breathtaking.  I couldn't breathe.  Actually I could breathe, but still, it was breathtaking.

Anyway, so we are walking on this gorgeous trail, watching the rock climbers up above and the valley down below.  We are having a nice conversation about our lives, reliving memories of my childhood.  I'm telling my dad stories about high school when I got really drunk and threw up and him and mom never knew.  He's telling me stories about when he would drink back in college and high school.  My mom's not really sharing any stories.  Basically what I'm trying to say is that this was the perfect parent/son day.  Just a nice relaxing walk through nature, telling tales of the past, thinking forward to the future, all with a beautiful October in New Paltz backdrop.

Why am I telling you this? Well, because I ruined it.  Kind of. 

I'm in the middle of one particularly awesome story about myself when I feel a slight vibration in my right pant leg.  It was a text message on my phone.  Without even thinking I reached down and pulled the phone out.  I read the text, casually typed back a response, and dumped the phone back in my pocket, all the while still telling the story.

A minute later, the phone vibrates again.  Same deal.  This time, however, I keep the phone in my hand.  I can tell this is going to be an extended text conversation.

And just like that the conversation between my parents and I changed.  My mom gave one of those tsk tsk sounds and said something along the lines of, "How can you be on your phone while we're out here."

She continued, "To me this is peace, serenity.  I can have solitude for a little while.  But I guess that's just your generation, right?"

She's right.  It was second nature to me.  Even though regular beautiful ol' nature was right there, staring me in the eyes, my eyes were focused on the phone, on the texts.

Sometimes I really do wish I lived in the world before cell phones, rather than the world post cell phones.  I'm not allowed to not be available now.  I'm not allowed peace and serenity. 

Times were simpler then.