My boys are following in my footsteps.

Virginia is a beautiful place, full of history and so we often find ourselves walking in history’s footsteps. Today it was at the Yorktown Battlefield. I love the Battlefield driving tour, as it is simple and to the point. It doesn’t mire you in all the details, but gives the general gist of those final days of the Revolutionary War. And it breaks it down in a way that kids can even love it.

I don’t know what it is (besides the cannons), but they love to run around to all the sites. My older son (formerly known as Bump and now 7 years old) understands what happened to some degree. And it thrills him. Which in turn thrills me. The little one just goes with the flow….I’m good with that.

So on a beautiful day full of clouds and wind, we found history. Or maybe it just found us.

In this part of the world the flip flop is a year round shoe. I have heard young girls giddy with the acquisition of a menagerie of colored foam floppers to match every outfit in the wardrobe. I have stared blatantly at women running around in 4 inch heels. I have smiled at the varieties of Chuckie Taylor’s now available. I love to see the toe shoes and wonder how that works for them.

I wonder why we wear what we do? Is it cool to wear certain shoes. Certainly my running shoes are chosen because they support my condition. Still wearing Saucony’s motion control shoe – think it’s the MC2 now, used to be the Grid Stabil. I wear lesser sneakers with arch supports during the day, a pair of asaic cross trainers for workouts and stare at a pair of Vibram 5 fingers that have evolved into glorified slippers. I have a pair of purple CTs in my closet, a few pairs of crocs and a pair of mary jane style shoes with some support in them. My closet is a graveyard of pumps and loafers, too risky to wear with any kind of regularity. Fortunately, my lifestyle supports my shoe options. What would happen if it didn’t? Would the business world accept me with athletic shoes???

I watch anyway, every chance I get. Is our shoe choice a reflection of who we are, or who we want to be. Our station in life, or what we want to achieve?

This is not happening tomorrow, but in the next five years sometimes. As now we make plans to make this happen, my heart is light and there is hope.

Fifteen years ago, I excitedly left the state I had lived in all my life for an adventure. But now the adventure has changed.

I am so excited.

Mornings like this are rare. It has been some three months since my last run. I must admit, I am a sucker for the open road. The treadmill, while replicating the physical experience, cannot make up for the mental and emotional experience that venturing into the great wide open is. Perhaps a sanctuary of sorts for an introvert like me.

I put one foot in front of the other, the soft tread of my own steps echos on the pavement. I run without music, letting the distractions of my own brain be enough for me and the rhythm of life be the beat that keeps me moving. I wind my way through the streets near our home. It is not too early. The day is in full swing for many. Yard salers are out and about. There is football practice at the high school. This is a far cry from those 6 am runs of my younger, working years. Yet there is more joy in my step, more smiles in my heart. This is a gift, this run. Every one of them.

I turn the corner onto the trail. It is my feet that worry me. I have left new shoes behind today in favor or older ones that I am willing to sacrifice to the muds of the recent rains. As I plod along, I think of the line of saucony motion control shoes I have worn through the years – these no exception. Miles upon miles put upon them on roads, trails, tracks in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan.

As I turn the corner and head downhill near the one mile mark, I finally began to feel the stiffness lifting from my quads, leftover soreness from other exercise this week. Yet, my right knee begins to ache as it has of late during any type of cardio activity. It has been such a stalwart these years, as my left knee’s weakness have needed its strength, but now it is stiff and sore at times. Old age creeping in, I guess. It does not deter my purpose. I have four more miles to cover before this run is complete, and onward I go.

I see my first runner on the next corner beyond the “little bridge”. She is young and fast, moving with lightness and music. She crosses me with a smile. Behind her, a walker in pajamas – interesting attire for the trail. I pull past them with waves, crest a hill to find two deer in a nearby meadow. They are unbothered by my movement. I leave the to their dinner. It is nothing new to see deer on this run. They are here, there and everywhere, pushed out of their environs by community expansion. I move past them and see a group gathered on the “big bridge”. It is the Saturday morning bird watchers club, here to observe the avian life of the swamp. I slither through the crowd with a delicate silence and continue down the bridge, following the line of nails in its planks.

I pass two love bird walkers and move on to the field section of the run. Here I will run over a mile to my turn around point near the 4h camp. A field runs on one side of the trail, and a busy road on the other. Many bikers and walkers dot this section of my run. Mostly biker whizzing by, some telling of their presence, some not. I push forward. I am not stopping, I think, until the turnaround. My leg is aching, but the out is the push, the back is the cruise. My plans are foiled by a errant shoe lace. But my stop is quick as I push forth that final quarter mile to my mark, crossing a group of runners near the turn. One of them is pushing a snazzy running stroller with toddler intact. I momentarily reminisce about the days with the boys in the stroller. 80 lbs. worth of kids and 20 lbs. of stroller…pushed by me three times a week. Sometimes a dog in tow, too. I was more hardcore then. Younger with more determination. That was before weight training and yoga gave me a different perspective on fitness, when running seemed to be my best option.

I stop at the turn and retie my other lace. It seemed unbalanced, one tighter than the other. I do a few yoga stretches and give the other runners a bit of room. I like solitude on my runs. No distractions. I head back the way I have come, stopping at the historical marker that recounts the tale of the Battle of Greensprings. I am momentarily puzzled as I look at it, thinking it was the Civil War, not the Revolutionary War. I look up, expecting to see the ghosts of soldier dot the field across the road, where the skirmish took place. I wonder what they would think today of those they see before them, the horses in the farm on the other side of the road. A road that is not a dirty path, but paved with bright lines painted on it. What would they think of cars?

I start up again. This is the cruise back, the hard part. I have it fixed in my mind what I want to run, but there are other trails I could take – shorter trails to ease my pain. As my leg throbs, I briefly consider it. But I have run many, many miles. I concentrate on the rhythm of my feet. I sit back in my pace. I know this. It is familiar and comforting. I think instead of training for the marathon those many years ago. The cold winter mornings where I would trek to the local gym for a 1 mile warmup on a treadmill, then run back and forth across the back of the parking lot – a 1/4 mile “lap” of sorts, until I had 4 or 5 miles in. The trails were dark, too dark for me, but the lot was lighted and people were about. The temperatures were in the 20s, and I was layered up with all of my best winter running clothes – double socks, double gloves, earband and hat. The indoor warm up helped, but I was still a popsicle when I was done. And I did it day after day during that month of January, until the days lengthened enough to hit the trails in the semi light. I smiled at the memory.

I was never the victor in any running event. I remembered that, too. Sure I won a few age group trophies here and there. But I never had that killer drive to be the best. I always felt there was someone else better, faster, smarter. I had victory snatched from me so many times. But now as I am older, I realize this. The run is in fact the victory and it has always been. It has never been about anyone else. And this day, it is the same. I am slow and in pain, but I am alive and pushing myself. My heartrate is up. My pace is steady. I am winning.

And finally I turn the corner to the gravel trail, the one I walk on quite often with dogs and kids. I find the trail harder, the turns more sever. The unevenness of the trail puts more pressure on my aches and pains. I even gasp a bit as I top a small hill. There are more runners in this part. One dressed in a long sleeved fleece, one bare chested with sunglasses on. There are a few dogs. I dodge them with ease despite my aches and pains. I notice, for the first time, the damage in the forest here from Irene. Lots of downed trees and branches. The trail is clear, but there are many roots in the air.

I move on, on and on. To the main trail where only last night I walked Sparky and Aspen. I run down to the end of the trail and up out of the woods, through the mud and in the rivets carved by running water in these places. I break out onto the road. It’s a quarter mile to my stop sign. And I run. I push. My leg seizes up a bit, but I still move faster, as fast as I can. I limp down the road, swing my arms. Turn the corner and throw my hands in the air as I cross my finish line. 5 miles.

Two men walking further down the road see me and laugh. But they don’t understand that I’ve won. For the race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running. They don’t know the many victories I have overcome to get here – the knee surgeries, the miles, the races, the days of pushing the stroller, the joy in the freedom of the trail. Perhaps I am a little crazy, but I got to run today!!!!

Until now.

Perhaps it’s the social media that does it. In the midst of seeing friends and family who have made a life in that small town in the middle of nowhere, and now living in the middle of somewhere. I want it back. Not just for me mind you, but for my children.

What’s so bad about life here, in the middle of somewhere? Who wouldn’t like the warm winter weather, the history at our finger tips, the upscale atmosphere, the friendliness of the south? Well, I’m with you on some of it. Surely, living here in the middle of where our country started has been good for our family. Our kids feel a connection with American History that I never had growing up in the Midwest. They love being outside all winter long (but being inside during hot summer months). The sun shines a lot. The community is upscale, and although we live in a modest area, it is void of much more than petty crime. There are a lot of nice amenities in the community because it is upscale. So what’s the problem?

I want the simplicity of small town life. And realistically, the middle of nowhere has moved further out with the advent of the computer age. I love the idea of life in a small town. Walking places instead of driving, and if you’re driving, it’s not far. I have never thought the south was any more friendly than the people of the Midwest. There is something about Wisconsin that is so a part of me, that has never left me. I want that something to be a part of my children, too.

While people tote the ocean vacations, Wisconsin has more than 15,000 lakes, and what you can do with a lake or stream can be a lot more interesting than the ocean. The great outdoors is equally spectacular in both places, but I miss my streams and waterfalls, my Lake Superior and just the general change of the seasons. I will say, I don’t miss the snow. But certainly, my two little boys would covet the chance to spend a few winters in the north.

And truly, I want to share this with them. I want them to live in an area where life is slower paced, and where material possessions and amenities don’t matter, but values do. I have shown them Virginia, and now I want to show them Wisconsin and the U.P.

I want to raise them to leave, but I want them to know they can always come back.

Just like me.

I’m a fickle reader, admittedly. My ereaders have brought that out in me. Over the months I have accumulated so many books, that I hope from one to the next trying to find one I can dig into. I’m so annoying that way – mostly to myself. I had charged through the first 8 or 9 books of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich in a two week time period, and felt that call – MEMOIR. Because honestly, I love stories about real people. I don’t mind the fantasy and the crazy chick lit detective type stories. They are fun, but it is the memoirs, the non fiction, the historical fiction that grab my heart, that effect me deeply.

This book had that word in the title “Memoir”. And after Stephanie and Joe went off again, I was ready for real life – not the work of a serial author toying with her audience. I wanted someone like me – struggling to overcome. Now Kevin (trailname: Fruit Pie) told a story I could disappear in – days and nights in the woods. Hiking and sleeping in shelters with strangers. Hitching to town to gourge on food. The kindness of strangers. It was all great stuff. I almost felt like the read took me personally to the heights of Mount Katadin (sure I’ve spelled that one wrong). There was something so simple and primitive about it. I wanted more.

And so I got more. First it was a “Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson – no he didn’t finish the trail, didn’t take a trail name, and really was “above” all those other hikers in some sort of elitist way. Yet, he shared a history of the trail that further stirred me. Next I found myself purging my library of AT related memoirs and also pulling out one more for the Kindle. My list includes

“As Far As the Eye Can See” by David Brill
“Three Hundred Zeros” by Dennis Blanchard
“Walking the Appalachian Trail” by Larry Luxenberg
“Walking Home” by Kelly Winter
“A Walk for Sunshine” by Jeff Alt

Now some I liked better than others. “Three Hundred Zeros” was an awesome read. “Walking Home” not so much. But each one filled my brain with bits and pieces on the trail, a sense of what it was like, and a realization that I would live vicariously through these types of books because although I have and will hike on the AT, I will never hike the AT.

And it gave me something else – an epiphany of sorts. There are many ways to hike the AT. You can bee a purist, following the white blazes that mark the trail all the way through. Or you can follow some of the blue blaze trail along the way, easier paths at times and alternate routes. You might “yellow blaze” – drive a vehicle between two points on the trail. You can hike it end to end, or in sections. But no matter what, hikers say “hike your own hike.” Do it your way.

This is the mantra I want to shout from the rooftops. For every person who has told me I’m crazy for homeschooling my kids. For all the people who scoffed at me during my marathon training days. For everyone who has attempted to micro manage my life and tell me what to do. I say, “Hike Your Own Hike.” You don’t like my hike? That is your problem, not mine. Stop sucking my joy away. I love the choices I am making in my life. Sometimes the terrain is rough (like the white mountains), sometimes it’s flat and lush (like Shenandoah) and sometimes it’s downright rocky (like Pennsylvania.) But I’ll never make it to Katadin with you hanging on my pack!

There it is -the true freedom of the trail. I walk it today, tomorrow and forever!

Summary: If you have ever read a Max Lucado book, you know his voice. I can almost hear it in my head – the tone, the words, the compassion. Max has a heart to serve God and God’s people. In his latest book, Max on Life, he answers 172 questions asked of him over the years on a range of topics. Chapter titles include: Hope, Hurt, Help, Him/Her, Home, Haves/Have-Nots and the Hereafter. He also provides both a topical and scriptural index of the book, so you can find exactly what you are looking for.

Likes: I always enjoy Max’s approach to Christian living. The truth is the truth. Sometimes we don’t get the answers we want, but God is unwavering. Never is Max’s approach more effective than in just flat out answering the questions. There are lots of tough questions in this book, and Max gives us the answers we might not want to hear, but he gives them in love. The section on the “Hereafter” was one of my favorites. Max wears his compassion on his sleeve in helping people with the issues of death and dying – but still cements himself in the truth of Jesus Christ. In the romance section, his firm answers about love and sex are things to use with your children. This book is not a book just to read, but a book that I will refer to over and over again in my times of hurt and heartache.

Dislikes: Nothing really. I really like this book, and the versatility of the indexes as well as the tone of the writing

Overall: 5 stars. Highly recommend.

Note: I was provided a copy of this book for review as part of the Booksneeze program. All opinions, however, are my own.

Summary: Set in the windy city, Divine Appointments has a cast of characters all linked to investment company Diamond Mutual. Josie is a consultant there. It’s her job to make recommendations on how to streamline the company. She also owns a mysterious snow globe with a brook inside of it. Lyle is a VP in charge of the day to day operations. He is a “bleedy heart” according to Josie, but loves to work with the people. Barb is the heart and soul of the IT department. Having been with Diamond for 20 years. She’s an encourager in the office and in her personal life. Marsha is Barb’s best friend at work. She is still recovering from a recent divorce and writing a story to help her work through her ex-husband’s infidelities and other controversies. Diamond is on the verge of restructuring. Who will stay, and who will go? What will it mean for everyone?

My Thoughts: I must say that I struggled tremendously with this book. It never quite grabbed my interest. The characters were well developed, but just didn’t seem interesting. And trying to intertwine them in relationship with each and other characters just didn’t create any anticipation of “what will happen”. There’s supposed to be a love story buried in here somewhere, but honestly I couldn’t really see the attraction of the characters. As the second of the snow globe series, the actual snow globe detracted from the story more than added to it. The conflict of the lay offs that take place in the book almost seem watered down, and easily remedied. Much of the story is neatly tied up at the end – even pulling minor characters forward to make the “bow” prettier.

The book is obviously Christian Fiction. The characters pray, talk about church life and depend on God. And no one seems to be offended by this. While this component didn’t bother me, it might be a consideration for other readers who are not interested in those types of characters.

Overall, I did not like the book and gave it a two star rating.

Note: I was provided a review copy of this book as part of the “Blog for Books” program. All opinions are my own.

FOR TODAY –

Outside my window… It’s sunny and cold. A hit of spring and back to winter. Blah.

I am thinking… about the day my oldest was born – 7 years ago today. Life has not been the same since.

I am thankful for… both of my sons, and motherhood.

From the school room… day off today, but this week we are studying the Greeks Achievements – Hippocrates, Aristotle and a whole bunch of other guys whose names I cannot spell or pronounce.

From the kitchen…great coffee this morning. Eating out today!

I am wearing… my pjs, slippers and a sweatshirt.

I am creating… history curriculum for next year.

I am going… to be busy all day with the birthday boy – breakfast, birthday shopping, Inflation nation and Karate.

I am reading… Death by Chocolate. It is another Indie author. It’s a mystery, not a chick lit book. Also have a book about Jesse James that I’ve started. Looks really good.

I am hoping… that today is a beautiful day full of joy!

I am hearing… Kipper on the TV. Laughing boys. The fan on the woodstove.

Around the house…My hubby has been working on renovating the tree house. Bigger and badder.

One of my favorite things… free ebooks. Now just have to read them all.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Back to school tomorrow. Nothing else exciting – a little’ boy’s birthday is enough.

Check out other daybooks at The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Enter, the ebook. The ebook is incredible. I could turn my archives into an ebook. And it wouldn’t cost me too much money. And then I could sell it on an independent site – or maybe it might get picked up by Kindle or BN for the nook. Suddenly, people would be reading my stuff – everywhere. People do this. So off the beaten trail, there is a whole subculture of indie authours. While some of them also have their work out in dtbs (dead tree books, you know regular books), their following come in the ebook crowd.

Here’s a couple I have discovered along the way….

Beyond Justice by Joshua Graham – A legal thriller with a Christian twist. I honestly could not put it down once things started.

We Interrupt This Date by L.C. Evans – Chick Lit at its finest. Susan is recovering from a divorce and a lifetime of being a doormat. Now that’s she’s starting over, how will she make her life different?

Remix – A dead British rock star shows up on the rooftop patio of xxx. Will she help him solve the murder he was accused of committing years earlier?

The Fashion Police by Sibel Hodge – Another Chick Lit murder mystery with ex-police officer Amber Foxy looking for the answer to the disappearance of a famous fashion designer.

I love having this option and hearing about these authors. There are many, many more of them out there. Ebooks for these authors are very inexpensive, and a treat to find. Kindle and Nook have many available, and the indie site Smashwords, also offers a lot of neat things. Read reviews, explore and invest in the next best selling author!