Before I left for my hike in 1980 I saw an ad in the A.T. newsletter by a Presbyterian pastor who lived near the trail in southern Pennsylvania. I communicated with him and he invited me to stay at his house when I came through. He also agreed to let me mail my supply box to his address. I arrived in town and was able to locate him. He had expected to be out of town and had left my box at a local store, but we went by and retrieved it.
That night I was able to enjoy the luxuries of living indoors, even if it was just one night. The pastor's son lived upstairs in a large bonus room. The room was decorated with all kinds of hard rock posters and sem-satanic paraphanalia. He was a bit "dark" and somewhat scary! I realized that many pastor's kids rebelled because of unrealistic expectations placed on them. When I became a pastor, I vowed not to put my kids in a "fishbowl" and not pressure them to the point where they would end up like this guy. So far it has worked out well (and my kids love God in a very real way).
The crossing into Pennsylvania (after only a few short days in Maryland) was a milestone because I was now officially in the "North". That's because I was now North of the "Mason-Dixon Line" which divided the North from the South. I still said "Y'all", but I was starting to get to used hearing "you guys"!
Here in 2011 (*drumroll please*) I weighed in at 176.8 pounds. That is TEN POUNDS I have lost so far! I know my weight goes up and and down, but it is encouraging to have lost that much weight (especially after ten weeks). Yesterday I worked for 8 hours with my son cleaning out the garage and reorganizing. I was dripping with sweat all day since it is over 90 degrees here. This morning I went jogging and did ok. I'm hoping to continue to make progress losing weight this week...one step at a time!
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