The last hike

October is a great month to be in Boston. The days are bright, cool and crisp. The leaves are in their full autumn glory and the city has a vibrant feeling.

However, for us, fond of hiking, October is also the time when we start coming to the realization that winter is almost upon us and our hiking season is coming to an end. The mountains will soon be snow covered and the weather will turn quite challenging. Before that happens, we will do the last hike of the season and then wait for snow to melt in April before starting again.

This is a tolerable situation because it is a temporary hiatus before we begin again.

However, considering that we are all aging, someday we will go on a really last hike----not last for the season but last forever. That is inevitable. What is not clear is how exactly this will play out.

There are two scenarios. One in which we will know beforehand that this would be the last hike, and the other in which we will not.

Which one is more likely?

I bet that it will be the second scenario that plays out. Under that scenario, every time we go on a hike we will keep thinking that there will be additional opportunities. We will not decide before hand that this would be it. We will not celebrate a last hike and accept the fact that in the future we will enjoy a hike by reminiscing about it. We will only be able to look back and say---although we did not know at that time--- that was our last hike.