I had a slow morning. I didn’t get moving very quickly. I had a headache when I woke up, which didn’t help with getting ready for my hike. But I got moving eventually and headed out to the trailhead a little after ten in the morning.
There were a few horse trailers parked at the trailhead, but no people in sight. I did my warm-ups and then headed up the trail. My body felt a lot better than the last time I’d been up that way. It seemed like my calves had been on fire whenever I did even the incline from the mailbox, let alone a climb like this. Today, I could feel them working, but it was just exercise, not strain.
The wind was blowing hard enough that I thought about putting on a down jacket before I started hiking, but I was glad that I hadn’t. The incline soon got me sweating, and the headache just disappeared while I hiked. I listened to the creek flowing and the wind blowing through the trees. I cried a bit, because I wished that Ambrose could be with me hiking. I thought about him, and how he planned for this.
I was letting myself go as slow as I needed to go; I don’t want to overdo it on my first weekend hiking in over a month. But I still managed to finish the mile before my 50 minutes was up. I kept on going and stopped when the alarm went off for water and a snack of peanut butter and a fruit leather. I saw signs of the horses, both footprints and fresh poop, but I didn’t see them or their people.
When I got back to the car, I felt good about the trip. It wasn’t a long hike, but it was a good start. I’m going to ramp up my exertions carefully and with intention. Later in the day, I did my Move U exercises, focusing on continuing my review of Back & Core level 2 so that I can start up level 3 as I had planned to do a month ago.
I think I have a romance story that I can tell. I’m not sure if it will be any good, but I’m going to give it a try tomorrow and see where I end up. I need to remember to make the scenes real and the characters engaging. This is entertainment!
I really wanted some caffeine today, but I resisted. I did have some decaf coffee with dinner. That shouldn’t keep me up. I tried some of Ambrose’s sweet & spicy tea. It still doesn’t appeal to me. I didn’t finish the cup I brewed. I think I might like it better if it was diluted or maybe with some lemon.
There must be some sort of magic in “one last time” for me with Silksong. I gave myself a timer after dinner, another 30 minutes to try and beat the boss that had me stymied yesterday. Sure enough, I spent the whole 30 minutes trying and failing. The timer went off and I said, one more time then I’m done for the night. And bam! I beat the boss and got to move on and get a new power.
I’m writing on what I had been using as a work keyboard. I bought it after I got home from Ambrose dying. It was so I would have something waiting for me when I got back from camping, a package to open. I used it for work, but intended to also use it for my laptop. Moving it back and forth didn’t work, and there are some things about it that I didn’t like for work, like the arrow keys being squished under the shift key. So I bought a new keyboard to use for work and I’ve got this one out on the couch now. I put my laptop up on a TV tray and increased the font size. It’s a nice way to write. I prefer the butterfly style keyboard for speed and ease of typing. I can type fast on a laptop keyboard, but I can go faster on this one.
I really felt Ambrose’s presence on the hike today. Sometimes it feels like I can ask him questions and I hear him answer in my head. I don’t really hear his voice, but there are answers in my head and they feel like his answers. It’s not my head voice either. Maybe it’s a programmed response he left inside me. Or maybe the voice was purely a part of the physical body, which he no longer has possession of.
