I spent Christmas Day hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. An 1,100 mile journey from the Mojave Desert through the High Sierras to Washington State. Technically, author Cheryl Strayed did the hiking, I just went along for the trek, reading her book Wild cover to cover lying on the couch. Although I felt I was with her, I was comfy underneath a quilt. And not just any quilt, my turtle quilt, made by Nana when I was eight years old.
As the outside temperature plummeted, I read. A pounding thunderstorm gradually evolved to snow with quarter-sized flakes, the sort that float dreamily to the ground and pile up all afternoon. With Annabelle curled at my feet, a fire nearby and steaming coffee, I luxuriated in a perfectly peaceful Christmas Day.Yes, Dallas had a White Christmas. That in itself was a miracle.
With no hiking or backpacking experience, Wildis the fascinating memoir of one young woman’s journey to rebuild her self-destructive life one step at a time. She faced intense heat and record snowfall, black bears, rattlesnakes and injuries. Somewhere along the trail, while confronting her personal demons, she found herself.
I was mesmerized.I can’t imagine pushing myself to those limits.
As humans we are rarely alone. Not really. We are surrounded by people and media and music and traffic. But when we are alone with only ourselves, we think and grow.
As I read the book I tried to remember a time I was truly alone. In fifty years the only experience I could semi-compare to Wild occured one day during the summer I spent in Tokyo. I traveled alone to a neighboring village. Changing trains multiple times and never sure I was on the right train, I thought I might never make it back to my group. With only one semester of Japanese, I was inept reading and speaking the language. I remember sitting on the train surrounded by strangers thinking no one in the entire world knows where I am right at this moment. I didn’t know where I was at that moment. (Before iPhones and GPS and checking-in on Facebook…)
It was empowering, although a bit frightening.
talyaGrace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Musical Pairing:
Lou Reed, Walk on the Wild Side
Very interesting. When I read the title, I just knew you and John had gone on a long hike on Christmas Day. I may have to read the book. Barbara
No John was on a separate adventure fighting dragons in the Seventh Kingdom or some such place…
I love the way you describe everything and make it so clear. Tom and I hiked in Rocky Mt National Park one day to a place called Bowels of the Owls. It is a very narrow passageway and we were crawling through places we had no idea where we would end up. It suddenly occured to us that no one knew where we were and no one would ever find us should be become trapped. We had already checked out of our lodging and wanted just one last hike before heading back home. That was pretty stupid in retrospect but it was exciting!
Cool and awesome all at the same time. People don’t know how to be truly alone anymore.
Very cool, and I’m impressed that you made it through Tokyo all by yourself, and especially not knowing the language! Before making this trip, I’d have had to have gone back through my Jethro Bodine School of Language books and bone up on my Chinese. I would have been saying phrases such as: “herro, how you doeen…I am ookay…I am fwum Awkinsaw…whel is yol lest loom?”…you know, “Hello, how are doing…I am fine…I’m from Arkansas…where is your rest room.” At the JBSofL, you can learn languages much faster than any other language learning software out there, and wellll doggies!!!…I’m proof of it!=)
Putting “Wild” on my must-read list!
I love living vicariously through books. I once went to see a movie by myself and felt empowered by that. Everyone needs to go to a movie alone when you find that movie that only you want to see.
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