She is 84 years old!

What a beautiful day!
It was the ideal weather for hiking today.

I enjoyed climbing Mt. Takao.
I went up a mountain trail, Inariyama-course.
I went there alone.

When I took my first rest, a lady, who was also
walking alone, talked to me.

She said to me. "Shall we go together,
if you don't mind? We'll have more fun, I think."
Of course I said , "Yes, with pleasure."

We enjoyed walking.
We enjoyed talking.
We enjoyed eating.

It was amazing that she was 84 years old!
She looked far younger for her age.

She climbed a lot of mountains both in Japan
and in foreign countries, she said.
She was going to America again to enjoy mountain
climbing in July.

I thought of the first part of the poem "Youth"
by Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life---it is a state of mind;
it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination,
a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage
over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over love of ease.

Will I see her again?
Probably no.

I enjoyed ichigo-ichie,
just "a once-in-a-lifetime meeting."