Date: 2003-10-04
To: First Impressions of Reentry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, life rushes in, doesn't it? Everything is moving too fast, I'm afraid. I actually had to go out and buy a calender last week. Yes, LollygaggerShoe, back on a schedule. But, hey, isn't it great to wear cotton again? And no more privy-induced butt pimples!There have been other adjustments. All my bodily functions need reordering. After having my hiking poles surgically removed from my hands, I had to totally relearn how to walk unsupported. This afternoon, I had to step over a barrier, and I couldn't step up - the knees said "Forget it, lady!" (They were never the team players the feet were). So I sat on the barrier, and swung my legs over. Hiker hobble is still a way of life - will I ever swing into a graceful walk again? Am I forever condemned to shuffle like a geriatric?Time to relearn how to eat too - there is this insatiable hunger, as the metabolism is still going a million miles, yet the 'ol body is not (thank god, thank god!). I walked by the dessert counter in the local Fresh Market today and just sighed... Do I really believe my stomach when it shrieks that I will starve without that beckoning slice of Key Lime Pie (with whipped cream, of course). I have tried to tame the raging beast with lean protien and leafy green vegetables, with only some success. I simply HAVE stop thinking of Snicker bars as a nutritional supplement. On the other hand, I'll never forget how, upon my return, my heart melted when I got off the train in Southern Pines, NC. Beautiful Southern Pines. It was after midnight, and the familiar streets were silent. A warm night here, yet in Maine I would have been shivering in my bag. Yet there was Mars, still there in the same night sky, winking the same yellow wink I'd been seeing up the east coast these last several months. Right here. At home.Well, I did walk that Black Mountain Crest Trail, with Sly, Homeless and Unemployed, and it filled me up all over again. Fabulous views in every direction. In some ways even more satisfying than the AT because it was a short, soulful workout with lots of view candy, plus chili, coffee and apple dumplings at the end. I'll write about it as a separate trail, and try to post some pictures, because there isn't alot of information out there on this little jewel. But, if ya want to walk across the tops of the highest mountains east of the Rockies, and do it as an overnighter, this is your trail...Finally, I was talking to my extraordinary friend Palmer (see pre-entry #9). She pumped me about the trip, and especially reentry. I told her about how simple it all seemed on the Trail - get up, walk, eat, sleep. "When I laid my head down at night, I was done," I told her. "It all seemed so simple. There were no undone things hanging over my head. Now that I'm home, I'm right back in that overwhelming crush of details. When I go to sleep at night, there is unfinished business, things undone."Palmer knows I value her insight and clear-seeing. She gently let me have it - between the eyes."You made that up in your head," she said. "That's a thing in your head, things undone. It's not true. When you went to sleep on the Trail you still had things to do. You had people to stay in touch with, postcards to write, things to get in town. The Trail wasn't done either. So, you were able to let it go on the Trail. Why can't you do that here?"Uhhh... good point. Why can't I?Guess I'll sleep on that one. Good-night, and see you all at The Gathering (www.ALDHA.org). You ARE going, aren't you?