from Kristen in Garrett County: "Break for Butterflies"

I thought that Christmas breaks were a thing of the past. Christmas breaks only come to those in school. But I got 9 consecutive days off, the majority of which I didn’t ask for. Unofficially, I feel like I got a Christmas break, only better, because of what follows. Starting with what time I had planned to travel though, all my gear is now staged at my brother’s apartment, with a few additions, being a summer trail T, some phenomenal mint tea, and a 4G memory card for my camera gifted to me during my stay. Georgia had a white Christmas of all things and I rode an alternate route through the Smokies the day after, which were fabulously gorgeous and doubly exciting for the fact that I will be hiking them ever so soon now.
Also while in Georgia I got a call from a friend of long-time family friends, who hiked the full AT last summer. We planned to talk in more length and detail when I returned to Maryland and ever since the consequent conversation, I’ve been especially enthused about the Hike.

Being eager to do this when it’s months and months or even years away, is a lot different than when you can count the months on one hand, or it becomes a matter of weeks. See, then, reality hits you like a wave of ice, and it’s a little bit scary. And while the world gushes flowery praise at the high ideals of such, the hiker is wrestling with apprehensions and anxieties that will never affect the others, analyzing the impending decisions of life-or-death proportions, conquering the insecurities as "make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt" (That was Shakespeare by the way). There are no concrete guarantees in life so you just gotta do it anyway.

“The Gift of Fear” is a book that was loaned to me recently by a retired NRP officer I’ve known. I would recommend it really to anyone. That, and the answers from Twiggs, combined were my gateways back to beaming anticipation. I’m as ready as I could ever be, and I have all the resources around and especially inside for conquering 2,200 miles of trail, come what may, and I’m feeling good about this. Feeling really good about this all over again.