Great Green Country – The Walk

In my first blog post, “Walking into Mordor,” I shared my personal reasons for taking this journey. Having never hiked before, I found it intimidating to publicly share the other reasons I’m doing this specifically, the people I’m hiking for, without knowing what the trail would actually be like.

A big part of who I am today is made up of the wonderful people in my life; Without them, I would be a very different guy. I don’t handle loss or grief well. For a long time, losing people who were little pieces of my soul began to eat away at me. I still do it, but I would say I’m handling it better now.

As Gandalf commented on death: «End? No, the journey does not end here. Death is just another path, one we must all take. The curtain of gray rain from this world recedes, and everything turns to silver glass, and then you see it. White shores, and beyond, a country far away and green under a swift dawn.»

As I embark on this journey, I take all my people with me. I take them to see all this great green country, and every quick dawn I get out of bed. I encourage and listen to the echo in each viewpoint. Even when I’m exhausted and don’t feel like doing it for myself, I do it for them. I carry a speaker, put on dance music, and move to dance with my friends whenever I can. I play classic country and bluegrass, sing to the trees and stop to pet the coolest ones to say hello to my grandmother, while pausing to take pictures of every flower I see.

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