Chasing Goodness on a Hot Day

Yesterday’s rain turned today’s heat into a sauna. And while it’s no excuse, the heat and humidity had me feeling rather crabby and stressed. The end result was that my brain shut down and I was more than a little short with those I love, especially Julie.

After the night quieted down, I got to thinking back to when three friends and I got off the trail a week ago after hiking 140 miles. My friend Andy noted the blissful, laid back feeling that overcomes one after so many miles on the trail. He asked me if the feeling while hiking the Appalachian Trail, or afterwards, was anything like coming off a week’s hike.

I told him that it’s much the same, just that the intensity is different. But I also noted how fragile the feeling is, and how hard it is to hold onto a trail state-of-mind once other modern distractions fight for your attention.

I have to work harder to hold onto a trail state-of-mind. It’s a good place to be and rather indescribable to those who have not experienced it. Time becomes less important. Stuff becomes less important. Tasks become less important. People become more important. Being good to people, and being surrounded by those who value goodness become very important.

I wonder who I would be today if I had not gotten doses, large and small, of a trail state-of-mind.

It makes me think of a line from a Gillian Welch song called “Everything is Free.”

“Someone hit the big score.
They figured it out,
That we're gonna do it anyway,
Even if doesn't pay.”

Money, time and achievements are poor measures of what is good. Goodness is measured in a different way and is best realized when you're with those you love.

My hiking companion for much of the Appalachian Trail, dandelion john, puts it more directly in one of his songs entitled “A Mile in My Shoes.”

"But I’ve been feeling a little different
Since the day that I came home-
I tend to hold my lover longer,
And my how all the kids have grown.

And lately it holds my interest
Holding down the chair
Around the family dining table
Used to be after eating I’d be out of there.

And the people they laugh and they wonder
But how can I explain-
Why these days I don’t mind walking
Even if it’s out in the pouring rain."

It’s hard work to hold onto goodness, to practice goodness, to do goodness. I need to work a little harder at it, especially on hot, humid days.

God willing each day, I’ll do a little better.