I always hesitate to tell you I am going hiking. I know how much you don’t enjoy it, how you would rather stay snuggled in bed than get up and chase my crazy ass all over mountains in the dawn’s early light. I insist that you can stay, I can go myself, but in a moment of chivalry you decide that it’s easier to go with me than to worry that I will make it back to the trailhead. It’s likely I will just keep going once I start, the mountains are my heartsong.
This particular morning finds us in Tennessee, a long drive to the mountains from the plains where we live. I am dying to put my feet on a trail, the stars still shining as we drive to the start. You can feel my excitement, my passion, you know well I don’t do anything halfway. I do everything with enthusiasm. The trail starts easily, but it is soon apparent that our destination is downhill, every step down is one we must take back up, a lesson you know all too well. I know this is a moment of dread for you, you hike only as a gift to me.