Decisions

Sometime is not about making a decision, but realizing that the decision has already been made. With a lot of crying, on Tuesday October 16th I decided to get off the Appalachain Trail. Several reasons come to mind, the biggest being the constant foot pain I continued to have. I had good and bad days, but overall my feet still hurt at least half the day. Along with the days getting shorter, the constant cold wet weather the last few weeks, and the knowledge that to finish by January we need to walk 20 miles every day, I decided that finishing this trail was not going to be fun, and I was not going to walk 2000 miles just to say I did. Perhaps that makes me weak, I think it just makes me......me.

I love this trail and am so grateful that I walked it as much as I did. 640 miles is where I stopped, which feels like a very big and very small number. I'm proud that I did what I did, and hope this is just the start of my backpacking adventures. I also hope to take much shorter backpacking adventures next time :)

As yall know Andrew is continuing the trail without me, and understands why I am needed to stop. It has been extremely odd to go from seeing each other every day to being apart for even a week. As odd luck would have it, he hiked solo for a week and then had to come back to NYC to wait out the hurricane, so I still haven't had to say good-bye for too long. But I know it could be a month or more before I see him again, which I can't think to much about without getting seriously bummed. Perhaps it's good balance, to have this time apart, but I'm missing him and the trail a lot. I also know I needed to get off the trail and still feel that was the right decision for me.

I feel blessed to have some great friends in NYC that let me stay there for over two weeks, especially the last few days where we waited out a hurricane and I couldn't get out of the city because the airports closed. Going from hiking the trail to NYC was a real mind trip and it is equally strange to now be home in NC where I have lots of friends and family but still not a house to call my own. So now I have to find a job, place to live, get back to the "real world" which I quite enjoyed being out of.

 I hope that I can keep the things I learned on this trail close to my heart and mind as I figure out what is next in my life. I miss the simplicity of walking every day. Eating snacks under fall colored leaves, filling water up from crystal clear streams, and knowing everything I "needed" was on my back. It has only been three months, but it feels like I've been out of the world for much longer than that. 

I cannot say how wonderful all the support has been from all my friends and family. Thank you for believing in us, encouraging us, loving us and following our journey. Now we can all follow my wonderful boyfriend, your favorite Andrew and mine, as he embarks on his solo adventure. Go Andrew Go!