Sweat fest of August 1st is in the books happy campers. I worked myself hard to eek out more on the road today. Completed 1.8 miles. I know to look at that number represents a LOT of hard work over a few weeks to get here.
I'm not done.
Not by a long shot.
It still hurts. Every single day.
But I have dealt with pain for almost 29 years. I laugh in the face of pain. Well, sometimes I cry in the face of pain, but I try my best to not let that be an excuse.
Diligently applying the philosophy of "some pain okay - lots of pain take a break". It has been kind of interesting as I think of people who were in much worse circumstances that I am trudging across the plains in their old fashioned shoes or worse their bare feet over unbroken sod and sage grasses. They didn't even have an iPod of tunes to help them find a beat and march to its tempo. They didn't have New Balance shoes or Dr. Scholl's insoles. Fact is, most of them were really lucky to even have shoes at all by the time they reached their destination.
As I sweat the drops of water down my face, chest and back, I am often reminded of the promise I made myself lying in the hospital with tubes and IV's jammed through me. I told myself that I could make it through this. That I had survived for a reason. And that it MATTERED that I was still here on this earth. So, like that 18 day old baby decades ago who threw her little fist up into the air as if to tell the doctor "I AM STILL HERE!", I resolved that though this may be a pretty big pill to swallow, I would hammer at it blow by blow and take it down in incremental doses until I manage with the help of Almighty God to endure it.
I don't just want to endure... that sounds a lot like eating rutabagas and pretending you like it. I'd rather come out of this all with some kind of physical and spiritual trophy. That's not a good word for it, but I hope you know what I mean. Come out of this circumstance not of my choosing with something to show for it, to share with others, something that maybe can help another person when they are facing a personal Goliath.
Well, I reckon I have polluted the air with my stench long enough. I'll drag myself to the shower and come out when I'm thoroughly pruney.
God bless and just keep walking.
