It all happened in the summer of 1995. The PCT is a three month hiking journey from Mexico, through the west coast mountains to Canada. It's a trip I would have loved to have done at her age. Instead I took an easier challenge and hitch hiked through Europe. I still have never done a prolonged wilderness trip. Well, never say never!!
I loved every minute of the book. I particularly loved the reading material Cheryl took on her journey. Although she had to burn the pages of the books, as she read them to lighten her load, she never burned her poetry book, "The Dream of a Common Language" by Adrienne Rich.
I tracked down some of Adrienne's poems. "Power" might have been one of the texts that kept Cheryl on track.
Power
by Adrienne Rich
Living in the earth-deposits of our history
Today a backhoe divulged out of a crumbling flank of earth
one bottle amber perfect a hundred-year-old
cure for fever or melancholy a tonic
for living on this earth in the winters of this climate.
Today I was reading about Marie Curie:
she must have known she suffered from radiation sickness
her body bombarded for years by the element
she had purified
It seems she denied to the end
the source of the cataracts on her eyes
the cracked and suppurating skin of her finger-ends
till she could no longer hold a test-tube or a pencil
She died a famous woman denying
her wounds
denying
her wounds came from the same source as her power.
It takes a lot of courage to move out of your comfort zone, to struggle, to endure pain, but in the end, to really live. Yes, you know you will be punished for it, but the rewards are amazing.
I can now see the movie. I had to read the book first, though, to understand the journey from the author's point of view, before it was filtered through the director's lens. Read the book. See the film, then do something amazing!!
Have an awesome day!!
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