Not Far From the Tree

They say that the acorn doesn’t fall from the tree . . . they must be right.  Much to my surprise I read one of the dreams of my youngest son on his blog (Towards the Sun) . . . to hike the Appalachian Trail.  Talk about déjà vu . . . as a young adult, about the same age he is now, I, too, dreamed of hiking the Appalachian Trail.  In fact, the desire was so great I bought the bible of the Appalachian Trail . . . a book that had the journals of those hikers from the first fifty or so years.  In fact, I bought every book I could find much to the chagrin of the wife.  The chagrin came from the fact that I wanted her to hike it with me . . . the wife’s idea of camping is staying at a Holiday Inn with a pool.

Thus it was that I was quite surprised that my youngest son wanted to hike the trail . . . the long trail . . . long, long trail—2,180 miles.  But such is the enthusiasm and idealism of youth . . . it makes one want to do the things that seem impossible . . . it makes one want to dream.  His words struck a heart string . . . the dreams came flooding back . . . I, too, still want to hike the Appalachian Trail.

I have hiked parts of the trail while growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., but that is not the same thing.  It only whets the appetite for doing more.  True, twenty-five years or more have passed since I have carried that dream . . . but, it still lurks in the recesses of my rock garden of a mind.  The spirit is willing . . . and, the body wenches at the prospect.  It is a long, hard hike.  Lately, I have found going from the bed to the bathroom to be an exercise in exhaustion!

I commend my youngest son and his partner (soon to be his wife) for their enthusiasm . . . for the dreams they hold.  It is good to have dreams . . . and, as he stated in his blog, I hope that he doesn’t let his dreams just be dreams . . . I hope that he accomplishes them.  Dreams carry us to the next level of the journey.

I might not ever hike the whole Appalachian Trail . . . but, I once dreamed that I would.  The dream isn’t dead . . . it just needed a spark from the acorn to be remembered.  Now, only time will tell.