An extremely sweaty love letter to Georgia

Dear Georgia,

Now, I haven’t written many love letters in my life.

But those that I have written? Quite positive comments in general.

So I thought I’d try writing one to the state of Georgia.

Oddly enough, I had only been in Georgia about two months before all of this, in March. But it was a completely different part of the state, under completely different circumstances, living what seemed like a completely different life.

There was a beach.
It was cold.
And honestly, I thought she was the happiest girl in the world.

I truly believed that life couldn’t get any better.

I had no idea that just two months later I would be hiking the Appalachian Trail doing something I had dreamed of for almost a decade.

At the timeHe was doing cartwheels on the beach and landing…not so gracefully.

NowI slide along mud banks trying to collect water without falling directly into a stream.

At the timeI was staying in Airbnbs that probably needed a little work.

NowI sleep in three-walled shelters and in a tent that always ends on a slope.

At the timeI was looking for seashells.

NowI’m just trying not to eat dirt after tripping on the twentieth root of the day.

And instead of driving twelve hours south back to my house in Key West…

I’m walking north.

Still walking north.

As dramatic as it may seem, I truly feel like two months ago I was a different person than the one currently walking these mountains.

And let me tell you, this trip hasn’t been all rainbows and daisies.

It has been sweat.
Dirt.
Blisters.
Exhaustion.

I’ve been trying not to lose my mind after eating ramen for the third night in a row.

You’ve been looking at a mountain and wondering why the trail suddenly decided that vertical was acceptable.

Sometimes he has wanted to leave it.

Georgia was difficult.

But somehow, Georgia was easy too.

Because despite all the ups, the pain, and the moments where I questioned every decision I had made, Georgia also gave me:

• amazing people,






• stunning views,






• unforgettable memories,






• and proof that I am capable of much more than I thought.

I really didn’t expect to fall in love with this state like I did.

And I think that’s what happens with love:
It is not transactional.

Love is not just loving something when it is easy.

There were moments when I wanted to scream. Times when I felt frustrated. Moments when Georgia made me feel absolutely humbled.

And somehow I still loved it.

I would tell Georgia “I love you” a hundred times because every brutal climb and every miserable rainy day made me stronger.

Nine days doesn’t seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things.

But out here?

Nine days seem like a lifetime.

And although Georgia was only the beginning of this journey, it has already changed me in ways I don’t think I fully understand yet.

Goodbyes are difficult.

But goodbyes are also what open the next door.

And who’s to say I’ll never come back?

For me, Georgia became something I never knew I needed.

And in some ways… this is still just the beginning.

Xoxo,

Ari, Piper and (trail name to be revealed soon…)

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