One month left… Decide on a charity

What’s happening?

It’s hard to believe it’s almost here. On April 26, with the help of the good people of Harpers Ferry and Brunswick, https://www.flipflopkickoff.org/#about I’ll head north toward Katahdin. My good friend Markus will be joining me for the weekend and will be with me on the first day before returning to Brunswick.

I’ve been active these few months since I last wrote. Since January I have been:
– fuck with increasingly heavier packages
– increase in miles and elevation traveled
– cycling indoors and outdoors to maintain cardio
– start a full exercise regimen

Yesterday I walked over 4 miles with 25 pounds on my back and a 100 pound golden retriever tied to my waste. Very good for your core!

After this weekend, when my community theater production wraps up, I’ll start focusing on longer hikes with an overnight or two.

It just so happens that the work I am in, “RUR”, has helped me decide on my charity. I play a kindly builder in his 60s who laments society’s increasing dependence on technology. The character uses a pipe and carries a watch. I looked in my keepsake box for some of my grandfather’s things: a pipe, a lighter, and a watch. It made me think of him. He died in 1980 at age 67 from an aortic aneurysm. I was 15 years old.

Lessons

He taught me two important things: one I knew when I was 15; and I learned one at 49. At 13 he took me hunting. Turns out he wasn’t much of a hunter. He didn’t seem to mind: he was happy for me to carry a camera instead of a rifle if that was my preference. Although we were in the forest for different reasons, we both appreciated everything it gave us.

Secondly, it taught me that unlike robots :), humans are finite in nature. We can die, often unexpectedly. This is a lesson I learned almost too late. I had a heart attack when I was 49 years old. I was lucky: I was in good shape, got to the hospital quickly, and had a stent placed in my aorta by one of DFW’s best cardiologists, who was on call that early Monday morning. I didn’t realize then what I know now: that heart disease can be hereditary. That it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, if you are fit or not. I am here today because I was lucky, even if I was part of my own luck.

my charity

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing more people than the second and third leading causes of death combined. On my walk, I will pass on all donations I receive to the American Heart Association. It is the largest non-governmental, nonprofit funder of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular research. So when you see my posts, consider hitting the «Tip Darin C» button right below my photo. It will be useful for something.

Well, I’ve rambled on enough. Time to walk Colt (pictured above, along with my Hearts leggings)

Talk to you soon!

Darin

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