Old Sofas in New Slipcovers

On my return from southeastern Scotland yesterday, I was wiped out. I could barely muster the energy to take a hot bath. Starting on laundry was entirely out of the question. It was all I could do to stay up a few hours until 8PM.

In my defense, I'd been hiking about 65 miles of the Kintyre Way under varying weather conditions and terrain over a 5-day period, with 75-80 percent of the Speyside Way crew (depending on whether you include me in the total).*

It was great to see everyone again, especially Sarah. I'll be posting photos later to show some highlights of the trip.

The experience was very different from our Speyside Way walk in 2007. There are a number of reasons for that - for instance, physically it was a much more demanding walk. But it was emotionally different as well - not necessarily in a bad way. In general, it's fair to say I'm in a different place emotionally two years on. In 2007 our walk offered an intense respite from the acute loneliness of my life in NYC (which I'd not even been fully aware of until then). These days, I feel much more connected in New York; much more aware of and grateful for the amazing friends who are looking out for me and even praying for me.

In any event, today I was still tired, but able to undertake many significant tasks: going to work, doing laundry, and replacing my old blue sofa slipcover with a new green one. The sofa doesn't really look all that different, but it is an important psychological change. Around 10:30 pm, I made a phone call. The result of this call was unexpected and jarring, and triggered some waves of sadness in me. But don't let anyone tell you that there is no silver lining; it seems that this same phone call triggered rejoicing in parts of Queens and Manhattan, and even as far away as Japan. Or perhaps rather than a silver lining, it is more like delicate rose gold burnished in the sun.

1. FN* We got to see the other 20-25 percent and his fiancee; in fact, our missing trekker probably covered more miles by car than all of us put together by foot, since he graciously and generously moved our luggage around for us throughout the week from a somewhat remote location.