Love, Grace and Ramps!

   Hiking in North Carolina, I was trying to make it to one of the shelters along the trail. I knew I was maybe a mile or two away when I crossed a dirt road. Looking to my left I noticed a campground. Well, I was thirsty and my canteen was almost empty. I walked down to the campground in order to fill up my canteen. When I arrived,  there was a group of several senior adult women who immediately wanted to know who I was, what I was doing, and if my mother knew where I was! :) After some conversation, I found out that they were on their annual "ramp outing". All of their husbands were up in the hills digging up a "mess" of ramps, which are kind of like a wild onion that grows in the mountains. The ladies didn't invite me to stay and eat, they INSISTED that I stay and eat. Now that's something that a hungry backpacker will never turn down!
   After a while, the men came whooping and hollering back to the campground with the ramps (I think there was plenty of beer drinking going on in the woods too by the look of them). The ladies cooked up diced potatoes with ramps and scrambled eggs with ramps, in quantities guaranteed to feed a small army. I ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, (you get the idea). Every bite was an affirmation to that group of ladies. There were mounds of leftovers, and they insisted that I take some with me. My largest cooking pot was filled to the brim. I departed to cheers from the men and a few tears in the eyes of the ladies who were worried about me spending all that time out in the woods (bless his heart!).
   I can't say that I walked to the shelter. It was more like waddling. That night I was still so full that I could not eat a bite. And the next morning I couldn't eat breakfast! There were many other hikers at the shelter and they demolished the pot of leftovers in short order. I don't know if I have had ramps since then, but they sure were good!
   Yesterday I was probably remembering the ramp episode, because I ate WAY too much. This morning I stepped on the scale and it said "one at a time please"! Well..... not exactly. But it did say 185.0 which means I lost some progress. I will do better today and will remember those ladies who shared love, grace, and ramps with me 31 years ago!