Sometimes I wonder if connections find us or we look for connections. There is no question that I am looking for tangible reasons to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail other than it’s been a “dream” since I started backpacking as a teenager. I thought I had settled on solitude. But the more I read trail journals, the more I realize that solitude will be relative on the AT. I think it’s possible, but solitude won’t find me; I will have to find solitude. Some say they hike to the trail to “find themselves.” I don’t think I have ever “lost” myself, but in many I have ways lost connections to others in my life. Today is Mother’s Day. My mother died in 2012 in the same hospital where I was born; I was by her side as she passed quietly in the night. Connections. As I’ve been reading trail journals for this 2019 season, a couple hikers have mentioned lilies-of-the-valley flowers blooming near the trail; these were my mother’s favorite flowers. Right now, I can look out the window right and see lilies-of-the-valley blooming in my backyard. I didn’t plant them; they were a nice surprise the following spring after we bought this house the year after my mother died. Connections. When I started backpacking as a kid, we were not a wealthy family financially; but my mother would scrape together a few dollars to help buy my backpacking gear – frequently as a birthday or Christmas gift. She also frequently drove my friends and I to trailheads for the Black Forest and Loyalsock Trails in Pennsylvania. She encouraged my backpacking activities, even sewing for me from scratch a wind shell, insulated jacket, and stuff sacks in order to save money. Connections. I hope to see those lilies-of-the-valley on the Appalachian Trail and bring the connections full circle. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Quiet Man
I don't have a bucket list. At 61 years old, I have already had the adventures of a lifetime, especially after a 30-year Army career, five years of teaching high school, and a 37 year marriage still going strong. But I still have this deep desire to complete the Appalachian Trial. Archives
February 2022
Categories |