Date: 2009-09-26
To: My Final Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Dear readers,Well, this is it. Unfortunately, there just isn¢t much left to document here in regards to my thru-hike. Been there, done that, and did my best to document the journey every step of the way. My thru-hike feels like a lifetime ago sometimes and like yesterday at other times. Today is my one month anniversary of my summit of the Big K. That¢s just crazy! No matter how many days, months, or years pass, one thing will always remain the same. I will always miss the trail. It has infiltrated my blood and is a part of me now. It is part of who I am. I know that never a day of my life will pass when I don¢t think about it. It¢s true, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I was pretty set on moving out west over the course of my thru-hike, but now I am reconsidering. Asheville, NC seems really appealing to me now. In a way, the Appalachians now feel like a form of home to me. Unfortunately, the job market is less than stellar there at the moment.My life is relatively boring and unexciting at the moment. I¢m busying writing cover letters and sending out applications day after day. Of at least 15 job applications sent out I have yet to hear back from anybody, with the exception of ¢Sorry, we¢re not hiring.¢ I¢m questioning if I should ¢settle¢ for a job even if it¢s not ideal simply because it¢s a job. Or do I wait out unemployment in hopes of something wonderful coming along? It¢s frustrating right now, to say the least. However, if the trail taught me anything, it¢s that life always works itself out, often in the most unsuspecting and surprising ways. If everything were perfect all the time, I¢d start taking things for granted. Part of me is stressing out about the job situation, desperately wanting something to come through soon, yet the other part of me is telling me to chill out, relax and enjoy being unemployed. I am living at home, still have a fair amount of money saved, and could use this free time to travel a bit, while looking for a job. As my mom mentioned this morning, I¢ve been done hiking for a month and have been traveling for three of my weekends since being back. Job searching during the week and going on adventures on the weekends seems to be a nice balance. ? Nonetheless, it has been a bit frustrating going from feeling on top of the world, capable of anything, to being unable to even get a call back for jobs that I¢m well qualified for with work experience and a degree from the University of Michigan.My body continues to detest every type of food that I ate on the trail. I have yet to eat anything that was ever in my food bag since returning home. I ate the same stuff for months and now I think I will be disgusted by it for years.   Every time I see the rack of Little Debbie snacks in a grocery store or gas station two things happen. First, I cringe. I can¢t believe I ate that stuff for months. Then, I smile to myself. I smile at the memories, at the quantity of food I was able to eat, at my absurd lack of nutrition, and most importantly, the fact that now, I walk right by it and head for the fresh produce aisle.My body is slowly but surely recovering. My knees hardly hurt at all anymore! The last pain remaining with the knees was the motion of standing up from the toilet. Something about the 90 degree bend in the knees, haha. Is it sad that I wanted one of those elevated toilet seats for old people for awhile? My grandmother used to have one and I never understood why. Now I know. My calluses on my feet are slowly peeling off. Dead skin on the soles of my feet has started peeling off all over the place. It¢s pretty gross and has led to constant vacuuming. Foot cream continues to be a nightly ritual though and I¢m looking forward to my first pedicure in two weeks (before my cousins wedding)! You¢re probably wondering why I didn¢t get one before this, and well, I just didn¢t have the heart to do that to a little Vietnamese nail technician. Gangsta and I discussed getting AT tattoos together while I was in Georgia. I¢ve decided I¢m not a tattoo person and couldn¢t bring myself to do it. Gangsta is well aware of my lack of ¢edginess¢ and probably wouldn¢t have even let me, knowing it¢d probably be something I¢d regret. That¢s a good friend, isn¢t it? I considered it, though! Instead, I think I will be looking for a nice piece of silver jewelry that I can engrave as representation for my accomplishment. Yes, it has been an adjustment¢¦ I miss the AT a lot, and I don¢t think that feeling will ever fade. I am constantly looking at my photos ¢ they are my screen saver on my laptop. I am creating a PowerPoint presentation for some talks I¢ll be giving. I¢m getting prints made of my favorite photos to frame. I¢m constantly playing with photo editing tools, turning shots black and white, playing with cropping, etc. I hope to work on an online photo album to order a hard copy of in the coming week (the online program MyPublisher is awesome for that stuff!). I am still seeing people for the first time since my hike and getting asked a lot of questions. I am currently reading Barefoot Sisters- Southbound. I¢m still in good touch with Gangsta and other friends from the trail. When I¢m really missing trail life, I¢ll watch some of the videos we took. They are guaranteed to make me smile, laugh, and sometimes cry. We have a screened in porch at our house with a futon mattress in it. Needless to say, I¢ve been sleeping out there most nights ¢ in my sleeping bag (and wearing earplugs, too, due to the neighbor¢s sprinkler system going off at 5am).   Like I said, the trail is still very much a part of my life. I know that with time, all of these habits and behaviors will fade, but for now, they bring me comfort.And the conclusion of this journal is simply one big thank you. Thank you to everyone for following along. Thank you: For writing me before hand telling me you had confidence in me going all the way. For writing me words of encouragement and support during the good times and bad. For writing to congratulate me upon summiting Katahdin.   For the trail magic, care packages, letters.   For opening up your homes to me. For making me feel like a badass. For complimenting my writing and telling me how you were affected by it. For making me want to be a better writer. For reminding me how special my friendship with Gangsta is. For making us feel like celebrities when you¢d recognize G and I on the trail ¢ you have no idea what that did for our egos ?. For staying in touch if you crossed my path at some point. For the offer of future places to stay or hiking buddies if I find myself in certain parts of the country. For being a part of the AT community ¢ even if in the smallest capacity as a TJ reader. I hope everyone has the opportunity to experience the AT. Ideally, in thru-hike fashion, but I know that¢s not always feasible. Section as much of it as you can, and in as large chunks as possible, if you can¢t thru-hike it. And if that¢s not possible, get out for day hikes or provide some trail magic! It¢s more appreciated than you know. I hope that I am able to give back to the AT as much as it has given me (yes, I¢m an ATC member). This, I think will always be a mission in my life. Gangsta and I are already discussing plans for a reunion on the AT in the form of providing thru-hikers some awesome trail magic in years to come. And here is one last request. Trailjournals.com is greatly supported by contributions made by its readers. Think about what the website has provided you. Knowledge? Entertainment? Inspiration? A fabulous addiction from Spring-Fall? Is it worth a few dollars to help keep the site going or make it better? I¢ll leave it at that. Just know that if every person contributed just a few dollars, it would make a big difference. Look at my counter # if you don¢t believe me. Besides, really, we all know it is a priceless resource for future thru-hikers (or past thru-hikers in withdrawl? Ask me next year). We should be thankful that a site like this exists for free! If you¢d like to support trailjournals.com with a financial contribution, you can do so by clicking the ¢Support Us¢ link in the upper right hand corner.As always, my email is open for questions, comments, etc. Just because this journal is ending does not mean my desire to help and inform others is any less. Guestbook entries get sent directly to my email account, too, so yes I get them right away. Just remember to leave your email address if you want a response! And with that, I close this journal. My journey following white blazes is officially over. I wish real life were that simple, but from here on out it is up to me to blaze my own trail. I wonder where I¢ll end up?Wishing you the happiest of trails,Wags