The Elements of a Family

Christmas morning is one of those experiences that stands out of time. The smell of a delicious breakfast being prepared, the soft thud of feet as they navigate throughout the house, the crinkle of plastic as new toys are opened. It's a separate reality in itself, one that is undoubtedly and singularly described as "bliss." As the morning fades into the rest of the day the bliss fades, (at least it does in my case) as we scramble to prepare ourselves to travel to oversized gatherings of distant relatives and back to back meals. Everyone has that uncle who is a Close talker, a great aunt who is oblivious to social cues and that cousin who either is on house arrest or isn't house trained. It's stressful stuff, but nothing less than a grin is expected, and why is that? Well, because they are family.
Yesterday marked three weeks on the trail and the trend of unexpected experiences has continued. There really is no way to mentally imagine or prepare for what the hike will be like. You just have to be ready to walk and do it in your own style. Chase and I started early but we still have passed, met and fell behind a good number of fellow thru hikers. In the heat of it all we have met some pretty amazing people and heard a multitude of awe inspiring stories. Sam, a guy we met in the first week of our hike, is 18 and from Maine. With a semester of college under his belt he decided he needed a break first, and so he took off to hike the trail. Although we don't hike together throughout the day we end up going the same distance and camping at the same creek and on some town runs we share a table and some good conversation. He, like us, is exploring a part of this world that is lost to most generations, but his story is his own and his hike is all together different than ours.
Not all the lives we brush past on our hike are hikers. Five days in we met an older couple who gave us a little trail magic more commonly known as a Pepsi and a fresh apple along with some encouraging words for the eminent climb ahead of us. More recently we were pushing through hurricane force winds in the smokies and as the trails turned into creeks we emerged at new found gap to find a couple waving us down. They had their car doors open, heat blaring and a table with hot biscuits and fresh gravy that they eagerly handed each of us a bowl of. They asked us about our trail experience, offered us their contact information and persisted tht we call them if we needed ANYTHING in the next two weeks. In their trunk they had resupplies and sweet treats for all the hikers coming through newfound gap. There's no obligation to be so kind, besides a common love for the trail and the world that stands independent of the reality that rushes by only a few miles away. That evening we made it to a shelter at dusk, with the rain still soaking our bones. An hour passed and there still was no sign of a struggling group of hikers that we had seen earlier in the evening. Worried, several people volunteered to re enter the rain and the cold wind to find them, taking food and medical supplies to ensure their safe arrival. A little while later the party emerged from the gloom, with high spirits thanks to the generous aid. 
Today is the first zero day that we have taken, and with the combination of the beautiful weather and the company of Hillary and Sean, it couldn't be better. With exams and fastly filing calendars they set aside today to drive three hours to meet us, share experiences and take a deep breath from our differently demanding, daily routines. There is love in that, it fills their effort. 
I have no previous relation to any of the faces that I see and the lives I come in contact wih out here, but it is as much a family as any. It has all the oddities of a Christmas lunch. It doesn't take blood or time to build a family, the elements of family are much more simple. They are love, common origin, care and common goals. There is a 2100 mile long thread that connects us all, it weaves through our past, present, and future and it is the basis of a family. Only those out here know what the trail truly is and we share the dust that covers our boots. We give up a lot to be in this world of dirt and trees, just to walk the spine of a continent, but we never lose the sense of connection, the undeniable elements of a family.

-chastan