Friday, December 12, 2008

2 MONTHS OUT

WAY TOO LONG BETWEEN POSTS. My apologees, but been busy with the holidays and work, etc. Excuses, excuses. At any rate, its been 2 months since summitting Katahdin, and its interesting to note what aspects of the trip linger on. I have finally lost the "old man" walk when getting up after a long time seated or laying - though my knees and ankles did feel stiff well into late November. My weight has increased only slightly, but I can feel the muscles I had so wonderfully gained starting to atrophy into fat. Yum. The holidays are here indeed. The biggest physical remnant of the trail are the calluses on the sides of my toes and balls of my feet. Still large and knarly as of mid-December. Mentally, its been tougher. I expected to have a time rejoining this world, but I had no idea it would be this tough. I've forgotten so much, especially things at work - my account number for the carshare, how to use such-and-such a program, where these files exist on the network, how to fill out the TPS reports. Its very telling the things trail life completely eradicated or suppressed. I also find that I'm very easily stressed out - had to use a new program under deadline yesterday at work and could feel my heart pounding and breath shortening under the stress. Eight months ago, this was not a problem at all. My theory is that six months in the woods so completely destresses a person, that afterwards, anything slightly stressful becomes a major obstacle. Destressed life is amazing really. Simple pleasentries like good conversation and time with family are real joys. Fun things like cooking can be truly amazing. Of course there are some things in life like bills and grocery shopping that are torturous but simply unavoidable. But there are whole categories of things in life that seem so unnecessary, so painfully wastes of time. These I simply PREFER NOT TO DO. Not sure I've ever understood Bartleby the Scrivener as well as I do now.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hummmm..."I would prefer not to do" Are we going to find you sleeping on a banister in an office building stairway? Staring at the walls? Cure.....start planning for another adventure (vacation) on the trail sleeping peacefully, and 'alive', under the trees.

jackie...daryl's mom

Mom Rairigh said...

Looking forward to seeing you and Elizabeth over the holidays, and as you just said, really enjoying time with family and friends and just relaxing and talking...Love you....Mom

Mateo said...

Dearest Keychain,
You have summed up my return to civilization in a poetic way.

I thought I knew bartleby upon the first meeting, but can only feel more closely tied to say "I prefer not to" when receiving TPS requests.

The trail allows to only take on our plates what is appropriate for the day and time allowed by sun and determination. A distant cry from our stress induced work environments.

I have found that boundaries need to be set. Let's toast to the new year of making that happen.

zen "matthew the scrivener of Duke"