Endless Numbered Days

No one can say we lack enthusiasm. As we landed in Kathmandu we could barely contain ourselves. Now that we had arrived in Nepal nothing could go wrong, and we could embark on the trip we'd begun planning while on the train around India in August. Sleep was elusive in the crap dive we stayed in. It wasn't just the noise and lights of the club next door, but also nerves and sheer excitement. I must have slept. Annabel tells me that in the early morning hours I exclaimed "Let's get up and go trekking!" (I don't remember it, so I'm going to pretend she made that up.)
Many evenings we laughed at the enthusiasm evident in Annabel's first journal entry of the day. The mountains are Beautiful! The views are clear! Today is downhill! We will arrive at our destination early! Yes, plenty of enthusiasm, but only a little expertise.
By the last day we were ready to be done with this trek, but were already planning the next one. Oh yes, on the next tramp we will be better prepared! My boots will be broken in! It will be lovely!
Let's see how infectious our enthusiasm is

...

The day before we hit the trail I bought new boots-Expensive, Gore-Tex, North Face- perfect for a hike. As I laced up the laces cut into my fingers, but my feet were held tight and we began climbing the Himalayas with a staircase that soared above the Kathmandu valley. Within half an hour I had the beginnings of a blister that by nightfall would encompass the whole back of my heel.Surprisingly it was not my back and shoulders that felt the weight of the pack, but my feet and ankles that groaned under the 25 (ish?) pounds. Upon arriving at the lodge in the evening and taking our boots off Annabel dug out her potions. Foot cream, bruise and strain lotion and (I kid you not) wizard's ointment. We took turns giving and receiving foot and back rubs. Mmmm.
In the morning we did a foot clinic that got progressively longer on each successive morning. Band-aids for blisters, medical tape to keep the band-aids on, duct tape to close blisters and sores that didn't merit band-aids and firm wrapping for the toes on downhills.
To walk on such heel blisters, ankle strain and bruises and toes as ours we took to drugs. Annabel abstained as much as humanly possible, but I indulged in 4 ibuprofen 3 times a day. Am I glad for my boots anyway? Indeed, they carried me over the mountains

...

For 6 days I walked, around the Helambu valley, over mountain ridges, through rhododendron forests, on top of icy snow, and down dusty paths. I had anticipated my week of hiking as time to think - considering wrapping up in Bangladesh, going graduate school or moving to Canada. I thought I might read CS Lewis or ponder social justice as presented in Leviticus. Oh the thoughts I thought I'd think!
Instead I spent 6 days putting one foot in front of the other, incredibly present in every moment. Not where I came from, what where I was going, not where I thought I ought to be; instead watching the flowers under my boots, gazing at the mountains, enjoying Gods great outdoor sanctuary and making every effort to continue up the never ending mountains, and down the other side.

Sometimes snatches of Psalms, or scraps of songs would swirl around in that space usually filled with plans, petty jealousies, new learning, or obsessions with the past and future. I engaged with the kids we passed, and spent moments of hilarity or deliberation with Annabel, but most of those hours were rest for my mind and soul, even as my body continued exerting itself to exhaustion. The perfect was to spend a holiday.