Friday was a terrible day, if it could go wrong it did.  It started off at work, I had made a mistake and it was not a small one.  I wont get into it, never the less the day was starting off craptastic.  I headed out to get Roland and found him ready and excited to go.  Gear stowed, Roland in the car, we headed to meet the rest of the scouts at the church.  Just as we were about to leave my craptastic day became a craptacular one.

My car died, right there, in the parking lot.  No signs of life, it would start and then shut off. I was resourceful, I thought to myself, I could get this started and running again.  My hopes faded with every foot it puttered, stuttered and choked down the road.  I managed to limp into the shop to find nothing but more bad news.  They had no clue what was causing the issues.  With no answers and more questions,  I managed to limp the car back to the house.

My hopes for the weekend, hopes for the trail, feeling of forward motion were rapidly fading.  I came in the house and my sister knew something was up immediately.  I was so angry, I felt like my world was crashing all around me. My job, my car, the trail, were all dependent on each other and it was falling apart.  I felt such deep despair, I was so furious at why nothing was going right.

Amidst all these feelings and trying to explain to my sister what had happened, my niece started demanding attention and interrupting incessantly.  I shot her a look and immediately scooped her up into my arms.  Over the next ten minutes I listened to her about the boy who thought she was cute and how her day was.  For a moment my day melted away.  Children have a way of making you forget about the troubles of your life.

As she went off to bed, the crushing, suffocating weight came back.  This substantial weight on my shoulders was burying me. I was so looking forward to this weekend and it just wasn’t going to happen.  How could it now.  In my dark moment I received a phone call from a friend of mine.  They had offered to let me borrow their truck if i wanted to for the weekend.

They knew how important this was for me, my sister and for the dog.  My sister would now get her weekend alone again and me, my weekend with the scouts and Roland on the Appalachian trail.  My friends had come through for me and I couldn’t have been more grateful.  It truly warmed my heart to know that I had such quality, endearing, wonderful people to call my friends.  This was such a grand gesture and will remain with me always.

I slowly limped my dying vehicle to the shop where the truck was.  Unpacked the car, moved everything to the truck.  All I thought of was the trail, the scouts and the next few hours I would be driving with Roland to the mountains.  The next two and half hours of driving through the night couldn’t have been more magical. A traffic-less night, clear roads, Roland asleep on the bench seat with his head in my lap.  A man and his dog on their way to adventure.  I wouldn’t think of today or even talk of it till I returned, I thought to myself, just enjoy the weekend.