Charlie's Bunion

Today, being Tuesday, is my day off and I hiked 8.1 miles on the Appalachian Trail!! Charlie's Bunion is a rock outcropping just off the trail at the 4 mile mark on the trail headed east of the Newfound Gap parking lot (which is right on the Tennessee/North Carolina State line in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park). The hike was delightful! Aside from the tired hip-flexors and fatigued knees/ankles, everything about it was near perfect from the temperature to the length of time to the views. What an invigorating way to spend a day off!

The last time I blogged I think I was tired and I know I was distracted since I was at work so I don't really recall if it made a lot of sense or not. This time I'm just kinda tired. I suppose I have, so far, picked some of the more inopportune times of my day to do this...but I'm glad that I am doing it - and have 3 blogs in the past couple of weeks to show for it.

While I was atop the "Bunion" I thought I'd try and call someone if my phone worked and lo and behold, I got service up in the mountains on the Appalachian Trail. I called my sister since I hadn't spoken to her in a while and I found out she, too, has just started blogging recently. I read both of her entries and I have to say that I think it is amazing the way the Lord uses chance happenings to speak to you and kind of hit home some nuggets of wisdom that he wants you to chew on. She spoke of transitions and how

"Sometimes we get so caught up in the next thing, the point of arrival, that we see each day as a mere means to an end. [She thinks] if we wait through our current days until we 'arrive,' we'll be pretty disappointed when we never get "there".[She does] know that if [she's] not intentional in processing the present, the present becomes a burdensome routine of going through the motions to get to 'the next thing'."

I think in my life as a performer it is easy to fall into this habit of looking for the next thing - whether that be a job, a vacation, a day off, or just a break in the everyday routine that I have established myself here or wherever else that I may live - so I just wish away my days and write them off as a waste of time or as my sister puts it, "a means to an end." I need to be reminded that my days on this earth are numbered. One day, (hopefully in the seemingly far off future) I will leave this life behind and I hope I don't feel like I wasted it.

Now that may be a bit on the melodramatic side, but I do know lately that I have taken what I have at present for granted in my desire to get somewhere. I know someone somewhere has said something like this, but life is not a destination but a journey. The fun, the good stuff, the fulfillment is in the trip - not the end result, you know? Or to be musical since I was a music major: if your life is like experiencing a good piece of music, the story or the "meat" to it all is in the middle - the journey that you take with the piece. Once it's over it's over and you have only the memory of it.

haha okay, okay. Enough of the comparisons. I'm probably reading too much into it all and it is probably more silly than it is eloquent, but all of that to say - my sister spoke to my heart and I think it's something that a lot of people should hear.

Well, I'm going to finish my dinner of a left over Tin Roof sandwich and some fresh strawberries and enjoy this day off. I'll leave you with a quote that my sister had...since she's my fave :)

"Annie Dillard writes, 'Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.' "

Here's to a good afternoon. I know I love sunsets!