Today, Sunday, October 26th, I’m walking. It’s a day in the woods. An autumn ritual (because of spring snakes). A 23-mile hike, which last year took 11 hours. We choose the date by trying to maximize the chance of cool weather with enough daylight hours. This is tricky. Already we’re down to less than 12 hours. Sunrise in Georgia these days is around 7:45 and sunset, 7:00. And we’re a year older. We’re taking flashlights.
We do it to prove we can. We do it to get away from it all. We do it to work on staying in the moment–to try to make it about the journey and not about being finished. As you might imagine, around mile 18, this becomes very difficult.
So think of us as you go about your day…
I was walking again
in the woods,
a yellow light
was sifting all I saw.
from Changing Everything by Jane Hirshfield
“It’s hard to tell somebody what you mean to say. And that’s an idea that I’m obsessed with. It’s why I write. It’s why everybody writes.”
--Jonathan Safran Foer
Congratulations on your journey (but I’m sure you’re glad you’re finished, too). Can’t remember if the period goes inside the parenthesis or out.
The pictures are great.
Did you write anything while you were in the woods?