“WE ALREADY HAVE everything we need. There is no need for self-improvement. All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds—never touch our basic wealth. They are like … More Awakening To What’s Around
This past weekend my kids and I went back to Harpers Ferry to hike the Loudoun Heights trail. James, Charlie and I have hiked in and around Harpers Ferry several times now, and whenever I ask them about going for a hike, they often ask to go there. For this particular hike, we totaled about … More Explaining, Not Complaining
Labor Day Weekend 2021 I decided to cram in as much adventure as possible. Each of my syllabi states that one of my expectations is that students are adventurous. I created this particular syllabus template in 2019, and since then seeking adventure is more and more how I have decided to live my life, as … More What Am I Doing With My Life?
My recent tour de New England began in Connecticut with my parent’s vow renewal to honor their 50th anniversary, and ended with a hike in Baxter State Park in Maine. I am very thankful that my original plan to hike the AT in sections from north to south sequentially had already fallen by the wayside, … More Serenity After The Unstable
My kids classify any outdoor walk where there was no elevation, mountains or much of a physical challenge as “nature walk.” We were originally going to go out to a new spot about an hour and a half drive from our house, but when I looked the trail was only 4 miles and that was … More A Decade of Development
I haven’t purchased a magazine in a very long time, but Real Simple’s publication about the power of positive thinking jumped out at me in CVS last weekend and I grabbed a copy. Having been in therapy, life-coaching on top of being a self-help book junkie, I already knew that there is plenty of scientific … More Navigating Spiderwebs
“Waterfalls wouldn’t sound so melodious if there were no rocks in the way.” -Rishabh Gautam My kids and I created a 2021 Summer Uber list consisting of all the (reasonable) things we want to do during our summer vacation. The list is only 10 items long. I decided not to add “pee on a bear,” … More Add To Checklist: Go With The Flow
I took the kids to the section of the Appalachian Trail closest to where we live this weekend to hike an out-and-and back to Annapolis Rocks via the AT. We hiked about 7.5 miles, with an elevation gain of around 990 feet. I wore my Camelbak backpack with a bladder with all of our supplies. … More Division: Parts of a Whole
This weekend’s hike was initially supposed to be a return to Shenandoah to a mountain, but at the last minute due to some possible afternoon thunderstorms and the distance to travel there, Maria and I decided to return to Patapsco Valley State Park instead. We met at 6:30 in the morning at the Landing Road … More Go Get Lost Friends.
I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1985, when I was two years old. I’ve been told the story about what happened when they drew my blood at the hospital, and I feel like I almost remember it. I became irate when the nurse started drawing blood from my veins, and I started yelling at her … More It’s In My Blood
Found in the Forest 