Day 49, Aug 17, Pittsburg, KS.
I’m not sure when we became surrounded by deciduous trees. Its been somewhere in this state of KS, in the eastern half, but I only realized today that they are here to stay as we head east. The cicada song was rich and vibrant last night. Hearing night insects is another change that occurred gradually enough that I’m unclear when it happened. Both bring with them decades of memories from childhood forward and spawn a homesickness for a place thick with trees, western NC, that we no longer live. Summer nights as a child on my grandparents screen porch where even conversation was difficult due to the clamor of the insects. They likely correspond to the increase in the trees. Another dividing line that may also be coincident in timing that was reached this last week is the cross-country halfway mark. I’m not sure where or what day that occurred, only that it has. We got to the Missouri line today.
I’m struck now by the magnitude of change that can occur with slow, steady, incremental progress. It feels so very long ago, much more than the actual 6 weeks, since we began in San Francisco. There has not been a day where I felt after it ended that I had made significant progress toward the east coast goal. And yet, over 2000 miles has been traveled. I’ll bet we have all had these experiences before. The experience of chipping away at something steadily, day by day, sometimes feeling you aren’t getting anywhere, only to wake one day, look back, and find yourself in a dramatically different place. What are some of yours?
I think the journey for those attempting recovery and for the families of those in, wrestling with, or resisting the need for recovery feel the heavy weight of the daily effort, the same can be true. There can come a day when you look back and find you cannot believe how much ground you have covered and how much things have changed. I wish there were a guarantee, but there isn’t with anything difficult that we attempt. But there is hope, there is help, and we can believe.
Thank you to you all for following, encouraging, giving, sharing the website and posts, and participating with this project of ours, InJoelSteps. It blesses us, honors Joel, and gives hope, help, and aid to those suffering from the enslavement to substances. GoFundMe funds go 100% to four organizations that between them cover the full spectrum of the issue, from prevention, to recovery, to research, and to homelessness.
Addiction is a brain disease.
It is treatable.
It disables decision-making.
Community matters.
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