aches and pains

My body's been hurting lately, but I know it will ease up soon. It always does. Bad weather gets better, pain goes away, wet socks dry.
I don't know what I've learned about myself on this trail but I have had an explosive swelling of appreciation for kindness and altruism, for all the friends and family and strangers who support us. Seems I write about this more than anything else, but it truly overwhelms me and I want to express my gratitude, even though words fall short.
Every day we see such incredible things, tiny and huge. Ants milking aphids on a flower stem, a herd of elk bounding away, water over bright green moss, huckleberries running wild over a decade-old clearcut. Beautiful things, strange things, sometimes ugly things. How lucky we are to see all of this. We are so fortunate.

Michelle