Thank you

That’s me, Doug Shobert, my ex brother-in-law Chick, and my soon to be daughter Marta at 2 years.

The weekend after a football game.

How about that shirt? Elephants. A harbinger of the future? That hair. Ha.

Wow. The young man I was then is still alive and well inside me. (Sometimes, it’s all I can do to reign him back in!) The year was 1972.

The young man I am now!!! Ha again.

I feel like I’ve lived so many lives, and they are all alive and well in me. Maybe that is what my soul is. My spirit? The person I talk to in my head and my heart? The person that talks to me? The product of all those lives?

I’m most often in touch with that part of me very early in the morning. Like right now. 0420.

That is why I write at this time. I’m in touch with my most complete self, maybe? Unaffected yet, by the day?

My most complete and full self, is what has the courage to make connections with others. Those connections are with me this morning. I feel the love that creates these bonds.

When I hold these connections in my heart, pay attention to them, I am at my best. I feel joy. I feel like I’m a member of my species. I feel like I want to be helpful. I lose the selfish me?

The selfish me is unhappy.

As long as I nurture these bonds, I will be ok. They will keep lifting me to my better self. The self I like.

There was a time when I thought I would never like myself again. Now I know that being around people, heals me. Isolation keeps me sick.

The Appalachian Trail has connected me with so many important new friends. My healers. That makes me smile. 🙂

Here are the trail names of the ones I remember this morning.

Karma, Sleeping Beauty, Creaky Knees, Sherpa, Just Gates, Axe Brother, Just Jim, No Point, Just Amanda, Sweat Lodge, Sitferabit, Sharkey, Megaphone, Vagabond and Poppins.

What I think I’m saying is, that I have felt Love or Life or Something, in the interactions I have had with these people.

No drama. No resentment. No judgement. No motives.

Thank you so much. I am the happiest, I have ever been in my life. You guys are a big part of that. You guys and the Trail.

Now, I don’t want my off Trail supporters to feel slighted here. I will get to you. Yes, I’m talking to you. The handful who read this thing. That’s Love, too. I will get to you in another blog entry.

Now. Here you are, my AT family.