You Raise Me Up

Day 180

Date: Tuesday September 19, 2017

Miles: 1827.0 - 1836.8.   Completed: 9.8

Weather: Partly cloudy, humid and warm

Stealth camped after Zealand Hut

Black Bear’s sore feet

What an incredible, beautiful day on the trail. It’s much warmer than we planned and we are not complaining. We are gladly sweating through our layers. While home we switched out our summer weight clothing for our winter gear. Who knew it would be unseasonably warm in the White Mountains of NH in September.

It was my turn for sore feet. The miles of long, steep descents had them begging for rests more frequently than normal. I just kept reminding myself I was having fun.

Batman hiked south to meet us. I so cherished the fact he had vacation and could hike along with us. He would hike in at times with us and camp, hike back out to leap -frog the bat mobile ahead, then hike in from the other direction. It was so reassuring to see his smiling face greet us. We also knew that meant there end of the day was close at hand.

No tears for Dad today despite I couldn’t stop singing the song “You Raise Me Up” by Celtic Women, one of Dad’s favorite songs. It’s a beautiful piece that brings peace to my heart. Maybe that’s why my eyes were dry instead of stinging wet. The lyrics helped me remember the good which helped ease the pain.

It was a chore to focus on the positive but it was worth the effort. When I started to dwell on the negatives of Dad’s passing my spirits would dip. So I tried to remember the good times. In fact I started thinking of one new item each day about Dad that I was grateful for and when a negative thought tried to enter my brain I’d think of what I was grateful for to take its place. I learned quickly that replacing the bad thoughts with good thoughts was a better way to get through this difficult time. 

Happy Hiking.