Healing, I’ve learned, isn’t a finish line you cross; it’s a trail that never really ends.It winds, it doubles back, it disappears in fog, and just when you think you’ve reached the top, the clouds shift and you see another […]
Healing, I’ve learned, isn’t a finish line you cross; it’s a trail that never really ends.It winds, it doubles back, it disappears in fog, and just when you think you’ve reached the top, the clouds shift and you see another […]
The Weight of the Pack Every long hike begins the same way: with a pack heavy enough to question your judgment.We start with everything we might need. Extra socks, backup batteries, snacks for every craving. There’s comfort in carrying abundance, […]
The Gift and the Chain I’ve never liked receiving gifts. If the five love languages were laid out like a mountain range, receiving gifts would be the low valley in my landscape. Shadowed, uncomfortable, a place I tend to pass […]
The Weight of the Pack Every hiker learns the same lesson the hard way: what you carry matters. As a young Boy Scout, I often overpacked. Layers for every forecast, food for an army, and gear that promised security. As […]
When the Trail Disappears It’s strange how quickly the world can vanish. One moment you’re following a well-marked trail, the crunch of gravel steady beneath your boots, the trees parting just enough to show the next turn. Then the fog […]
The Myth of Arrival: The Hollow Wind on the Ridge From below, the summit gleams like salvation. The peak whispers its promises: just a little higher, just a little more effort, and life will finally feel complete. I’ve heard that […]
The Trailhead I remember road marches during my Army days at Fort Benning, Georgia. We’d start around 2 a.m., moving out under the stars into miles of wilderness; miles of forest thick with loblolly and longleaf pines. Often, the Division […]
The Winding Trail Life doesn’t always unfurl like a neatly drawn map. The lines we sketch as children (graduate, build a career, marry, raise children, retire) rarely survive contact with the weather of reality. Instead, most of us find ourselves […]
I’ve spent nights in the mountains where the fire was my only anchor. The wind cut sharp, the dark pressed in, and no matter how close I pulled my sleeping bag around me, the cold stayed. But the flames gave […]
Reading the Sky of the Soul Every morning, I give my students a writing prompt. An invitation to explore the thoughts in their heads and the emotions in their hearts. These journals are private, theirs alone, a place where honesty […]