Today we had an exchange with a thru-hiker and were reminded of realities that we know exist but somehow feel far and faint.
Parked right by the front entrance of CVS Pharmacy in Great Barrington, waiting for a prescription to be filled, my husband and I see these two dirty guys with backpacks walking towards the pharmacy entrance. One of the guys place his gear at the side of the entrance and the other hangs around on the parking lot.
At first glance, they look like homeless people: their clothes look dirty, they are not groomed, they carry a bunch of unrecognizable “stuff”, but there is something about them that clearly distinguish their personas from homeless people. They share a very distinct “glow” and an unique sense of self-confidence and joy not easily found.
I have this awkward habit of staring at people. Blame my naivete, curiosity towards life and people, desire to make sense of reality, whatever . . . , but I am always doing that, and as I get older, I feel less shamed of doing it. In my defense, I always smile as my intentions are always good 😉
So there I was, inside the car staring and smiling at the backpacker standing outside the pharmacy. He sees me, makes eye contact, smiles, walks towards the car and asks for the VFW Hall.
I point to the wrong direction and my husband jumps in the exchange to correct my dyslexic moment. Fascinated I ask questions which he gladly answer and volunteer more info. In the 10-minute exchange we know that he is doing the whole 2190 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He met the other fellow some 500 miles down the trail. They went to the movie theater to watch Star Wars but they slept and their snores prompt an invitation to leave the theater. They were now on their way to the VFW Hall for shower, warm meal and spend the night.
He started his journey on April 19 and hopes to arrive Mount Katahdin, Maine by September 30, for his 40th birthday. He just retired from the military after 20 years of wars. He and his wife just bought a house in Charleston, South Carolina, which is beautiful. She is in India exploring the world just like he is, although she tried to do the trail with him but could not endure. He works half of the year as graphic designer and the other half he hikes.
Even though I felt a lot of love and respect for this human being, everything he was saying was foreign to me. We were sharing the same time and space, but at any point in his accounts I imagined myself in his shoes, until he mentioned that he is a graphic designer. Somehow the fact that we shared a common reality made me imagine myself hiking in the rain, sleeping with the stars and the crickets, feeling hungry, tired, dirty. And for a split of thought I became a thru-hiker appreciating life through solitude and endurance.