A day of great inspiration....

today was wonderful. absolutely wonderful.

i received so many positive thoughts about my trail attempt.

please excuse the last post, i was trying to test the blog app on my phone to make sure that it worked correctly. it seems to.

the PA that comes to my work on mondays, i won't mention her name out of respect to her privacy, but she is an awesome person. she came up to me expressing much joy and excitement that i was going to be attempting the trail. she mentioned that she would like to do it when she retires. she is in the process of talking her husband into it now. her positive energy was infectious and i am super grateful for talking to her about it. it is nice to know that hiking the AT is also a dream of someone i think so highly of.

i also had a suprise gift delivered from a former co-worker/friend of mine, Virginia. she is amazing. she moved to Illinois this past December. she sent me a beautiful arrangement of flowers along with a note wishing me good luck on my hike! she has a lot of stuff going on in her life right now, and i found it so touching that she took the time out to send me flowers for good luck for my trip! i am beyond thankful. she is my Illinois Trail Angel.

after i received the flowers, i promptly displayed them in my office when in walked a gentleman by the name of Cliff. hopefully he is totally okay with me using his first name on here. he questioned me about the flowers and when i responded he proceeded to inform me that he has hiked the AT from Springer to North Carolina. i was shocked. so much inspiration today. he told me that the first 100 miles will be beyond difficult. i pretty much expected that already, but he definitely confirmed it for me. he also stated that hiking the whole AT was a dream of his that he set aside for a very special lady. he stated that he is so happy he made that decision, because he didn't want to lose her...but he still wishes he could have accomplished the AT (which in my opinion, he still can!)

i have had a lot of hesitation/mixed feelings about the trail lately and today left me on a high about attempting it. i know i will still have ups & downs even before i begin, but i am really grateful for today...and the little bit of magic it brought me.

i have some really amazing people in my life.
i really appreciate each and every one of them.

god has brought some amazing people in my life to teach me some really amazing things.

inspiration from my virginny:

-Journey (Lauren)