5:45 a.m. *alarm blares*

After disabling the alarm, I lay motionless in darkness and silence, still lacking the courage to face the day ahead. “I should have backed out. Maybe it isn’t too late,” I gripe before eventually rising to an upright position.

6:00 a.m. *text message alert* {Good morning, Astrid! This is Sunny! Just wanted to confirm that u were still planning to join us for the hike @ Mt Pleasant n an hr???}

“This is my chance,” I think to myself, grinning ear to ear. “I could just tell her that I came down with something. Something bad. Real bad. Like the swine flu. The group would understand if I back out because I had the swine flu.”

But I didn’t write that. Pouting face in full effect, I decide to stick to my guns. Stick to the original plan of being the kind of person that hikes and camps. The kind of person that is
n’t afraid to brave the elements. Mind over matter, right?

{Hi Sunny! Yup, I’ll be there. Thx 4 checking..}

After miles and miles and miles of trekking through the mountainside in 38 degrees, I would like to think that a breakfast for champions was extremely well-deserved. By breakfast for champions, I’m talking about bacon + eggs + pancakes. Know what that equals? Blissfully full tummies, that’s what. Only a real man would hike 12 miles with cast iron skillets in his pack. #respect #goals #marryme

As we descend from the mountain like Moses on the 3rd day, I can truly say that I have zero regrets. Moral? Don’t be afraid to take hold of the new experience that life lays at your feet. I was. But am no longer.