March 20, 1997 (Day 1 – Springer Mountain – A.T. milepoint 2.5)
After a week at home with the folks making final preparations, Dad and I drove down to Dalton, GA yesterday and stayed the night in a tiny hotel. Big ceremonial breakfast this AM and made the hour+ drive to Amicalola Falls State Park arriving at 10:30 a.m. I registered at the visitor center and weighed my pack – 54 lbs – ouch. That’s gonna hurt. (Dad laughs out loud as I swear under my breath). Ran into another potential thru-hiker, Jeff, who flew in yesterday from London and was on his way to getting started a little later in the day. A couple of pics, a big hug and thank you to Dad, and I disappeared into the bare forest on the 7 mile approach trail to the southern terminus of the AT – Springer Mountain. The approach trail was not terribly difficult, but it was no “walk in the park” either with 50+ lbs on my back! The first people I saw was a group of about 10 day hikers. All in great shape and smiling. I don’t think any of them were under 65 years old, but feeling their energy, they were like a bunch of 20-somethings. They offered brownies. I offered cookies. I was feeling a little lighter.
At around 2:45 PM, I arrived atop Springer Mountain, Elev 3730′. Relaxed for a while enjoying the view to the west of a superb, clear, sunny 65-70 degree day. A bite to eat, a ceremonial photo, a hello to thru-hikers Luna (from central Canada) and Kurt (from North Carolina), and I officially started walking to Maine. Destination for the evening was Stover Creek Shelter at mile 2.5, mostly downhill from Springer into a rhododendron and hemlock-filled forest. I am joined at the shelter by brothers, Fiddlehead and Bulldog, from PA. Another hiker, Mr. Mingo from Boston, is tenting nearby and there are four chatty college girls from OH in tents down by the creek. I can tell already that my relationship with food over the next six months will be both passionate and violent.
-Joe
March 20, 2009 – Boulder, CO
After dropping my 8-year-old off at the bus today, I made a quick stop for coffee and went for a walk. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the weight of the world, struggling with the feeling that I was failing my children.
I have problems to solve. I need to cope. I need to act even though some days I feel defeated and powerless. Can I find a path that allows me to walk through all of this terrain with integrity?
In other experiences, I have learned that the quality of my coping is often related to how I label my circumstances. Until today, I have been associating divorce with failure, and I have been suffering. But today I considered the idea of divorce as a remedy.
remedy |ˈremədē|
noun
- a medicine or treatment for a disease or injury
- a means of counteracting or eliminating something undesirable
verb
- to set right (an undesirable situation)
How about that? If divorce is a remedy, then the process is about setting right an undesirable situation. It is a path to healing.
The concept of divorce as a remedy gave me a feeling of relief and made me feel good about my wife in a way I haven’t for some time. I can actually imagine being strong and supportive through the process.
