Lexington

"I'm going to Lexington!" was my battle cry and inspiration as I biked over my first mountains. Whenever I had biked up a hill around my neighborhood I used to think "oohf this is hard, how could I ever bike up a mountain?" and now the blue ridge mountains were rising up from under my tires. The hill rose on and on, 50 pounds of gear pulled me down, and I pedaled. I was in lowest gear, and my speed dropped to about six miles an hour. I wasn't so much even pedaling, but continually stomping down on the peddles. Eventually I made it up to the blue ridge parkway, though of course the hills didn't stop there. I fought many a climb, but the blue ridge was so beautiful I nearly forget about my struggling legs. The leafs had not yet bloomed and I had a constant view of rolling mountains covered in spring colors. I rode down off the blue ridge and into Lexington. When I crested that last hill and saw the Walsh house waiting for me on the far side of the pastures, framed by mountains I felt an ocean of relief and accomplishment wash through me. I had worked so hard to get there, and now I had arrived at the home of the best folks and comfiest couches.
according to the latest census data Rockbridge county and Lexington have the highest concentration of incredible people of anywhere in the country. I chilled hard with my man Bryan walsh and my Ecuador bud Leo. I had my first of many amazing dinners at the Harbor house. I visited and met many other special folks.
I spent a whole afternoon with my inspiration and  grown up, female personality twin Leah Green. We thought up an lesson for the extracurricular middle school nature writing class Leah teaches at Boxer Wood, and then lead it together! AH! so much fun!
over the past two years I have taken huge strides in becoming a better listener, being more observant of others, being mindful and intentional in what I say, and developing more of a calm centeredness. Talking with Leah I realized I had lost some of the freely expressive, energetic, and silly self, but I felt it creeping back in our conversations. Mindfulness and goofiness aren't opposite ends of a spectrum, but coexist beautifully and reinforce each other.