Day.5 in the books

Many of you know that one of my biggest worries was the initial travel and making connections with my luggage. Like many, I find myself more concerned about the things that are not in my actual control. I took heart that I had a few backup plans that would have allowed me to manage, even if things had not gone smoothly. Thankfully travel, aside from not sleeping at all, went well. Yesterday, I went to the beach and collected the many stones I will be carrying with me and christened my shoes in the Irish Sea. This morning, after a good night’s sleep and an English breakfast, I decided to get a jump on my actual first day by making a loop and completing about half of the first day’s trail. Today, I definitely was thankful for the wisdom of those are helping me defeat rock brain (inflexible thinking). There are both adult and kid videos to help you understand rock brain in the kids corner. It definitely rained (stopped about 30 minutes after I got back) and I definitely got lost….added 4 miles to the day. AND, it was just fine. In fact, it was great because I knew my problems were not going to last forever and that I had a lot of folks behind me and some who had helped me problem solve before I left Virginia. Today I was thinking of a young man today who didn’t remember that his problems were temporary and didn’t remember that he had so many people who loved him and would have helped him to figure things out. And, in that state of mind that wasn’t real but seemed real to him, he made a decision that ended his life. I honored him today and he was with me in a very powerful way. With him I noticed how the rain was making the landscape a vibrant green. I took my time and listened to birds and marveled at nature. I remembered the kids I work with and how they reminded me that I have maps and rain gear. I was thankful that I remained calm, that I had plenty of time to find my way back to the trail, and that I met some nice sheep along the way. The cows are a story for another day…let’s just say that it was a problem my kids hadn’t problem solved for me; but, I did have the sense to not do anything silly. I waited for two men that were a ways behind me to do that.