I just rolled up into Easter Sunday dinner at my mom n ems with the dirt and smell of an 8 mile hike on me.
I did put on mostly clean sweats and t-shirt before I headed in. And washed my hands once I got in there.
But sweat is sweat and mud is mud and I didn’t have time to wash any of it off before dinner.
My family didn’t even glance (or sniff) twice.
They don’t even question that I’ve just come off of a mountain or out of a gym before I get anywhere I’m going.
As long as I shower at some point in a 24 hour period, they seem to just accept it.
Because they are all athletes.
They get the need for fitness and adventure.
The need to seek out views like this.
I can almost straighten my arms without any muscle soreness today.
I’ve had about as excellent a week as you can have without traveling or spending any money.
Because I can’t currently afford either.
Adventure.
That’s all I really want.
It doesn’t have to be big adventure. Though I do need those from time to time, too.
But my body craves movement. Challenge. Nature. Camaraderie.
My soul requires time with the people who share my cravings.
I’m blessed to have found those people.
In this one week, I’ve had a fabulous Blue Ridge 10k Dance Party, a tornado hike up Christmas Mountain, a walk up to the Star with my YouthBuild kids, several ridiculous challenging strength training sessions with some crazy fit people, a couple of peaceful runs on my own, and a spectacular hike around AOF. (That’s what the cool kids call Apple Orchard Falls, and so now that’s all I can ever call it from now on.)
This is what I want my life to look like.
I want to do ridiculous things with ridiculous people.
Today was the perfect ending to an excellent spring break.
A beautiful 8 mile hike through AOF. We didn’t run. We didn’t push ourselves. Nothing crazy happened.
(Someone probably didn’t do a topless Molly on top of a rock. And there probably aren’t pics of that somewhere. And those pics are probably not postable because someone didn’t have the RVTR flag to cover what was probably way too much side boob… but if it did happen, it was probably liberating and beautiful and tasteful and may become a centerpiece photo in someone’s home someday.)
We just enjoyed the easy pace of a peaceful morning in nature.
And some folks may have gotten lost, but those some folks were not me.
Because they stopped letting me lead about the time that I tried to keep going straight when the trail continued to the left.
No morels anywhere. But I’m still not convinced that they really grow here in Virginia. I suspect y’all just buying them in stores and posting pics of them.
So, tomorrow I’ll head back to the grind of five jobs. Until I make that last tuition payment next month.
Then I’m going on all of the adventures.
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