A Glimpse
At the heart of all of this outside-time. Underneath all of the effort and intention to get out there with the sunshine and the wind and the smell of the dirt. Wrapped around every leaf and insect and passing thought is a much larger daydream. It has been there even before I wanted to be outside and, in that time, made little sense at all. I have known since I was small that I wanted to walk the Appalachian Trail. Spend days and days on it and come to the end of it strong and weary and new. I had no idea how that was going to happen without being outside. Silly me. The universe knows better.
In the middle of week twelve, I tell my students to keep showing up. It is all that is required of them. The learning will happen if they keep showing up. I think this dream is like that. I keep showing up. I keep walking further. I keep learning more each adventure. I listen to the stories of those that have gone before.
Last week we walked past a message board for the trail. My heart raced. Just a peek. Just a glimpse of what is to come.
This week, these arrived and with them our adventures truly begin. Walking, learning, listening, being. It is not such a bad way to spend the time.
Naming Mountains 
I’ve had that dream for much of life, too. We walked a tiny piece of it a couple of years ago in Dalton. It was on that hike that we realized just how old and infirm Casey had become, so it was a sad time as well as an exhilarating time of finally setting foot on that long-sought trail.