Thursday, January 22, 2015

Steel Magnolia, Circa 1983



Back in the day, I was a little bitty thing and I had no idea about anything at all. My melancholy was rooted, I imagine, in books, in a prodigious imagination, in the romance of not being known. Jane Eyre was the type thing I fantasized about -- the allure of truly being an outcast. That photo, unearthed in my purge, was taken in August of 1983, right before my junior year in college. Or maybe it was 1984, right before my senior year. I was a little bitty thing and I had no idea about anything at all. I don't remember the names of either of those men -- the older one was the professor who led me and a group of young people through a part of the Adirondacks that summer in a quasi-survival trip. We carried 70 lb packs on our backs and hiked about fifty miles in, I recall, and it was incredibly difficult. It rained a lot, and there were days when I focused only on the boots in front of me, hauling my own up and out of mud. I didn't sign up for this trip because I was destitute or a former heroin addict or because I was grieving a dead parent. Remember, I was a little bitty thing and I had no idea about anything at all. I signed up like I do a lot of things -- impulsively, and when I made my way to Syracuse and then on a Greyhound bus to Potsdam and then to meet this group of strangers, all of whom were experienced hikers -- well -- let's just say it was one of the most formative experiences of my life. I had never been hiking and the only camping I had done was probably in my back yard as a child. At the end of the ten days, I was awarded a Steel Magnolia award, and I remember how proud I felt. In fact, I might have just gotten the award when this photo was snapped. I came down out of the Adirondacks dirty and tired and grateful. I checked into a hotel by myself, ordered a steak and baked potato, took a long bath and got on with the rest of my life.

15 comments:

  1. A seventy pound pack? That's a lot. Of course, we do heavier lifting now, don't we....

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  2. You should have written a book about it and now you'd be rich and famous.
    Golly. You sure were a beautiful little bitty thing.

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  3. What strikes me most is the brightness of your eyes, your openness to the world, your light. Your great light.

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  4. So much innocence, with energy and joy in absorbing new experiences and learning from them - and then, to hit the hotel, order a substantial meal and bathe the grit away. You right - you were (and ARE) a steel magnolia. I love your spirit, then and now.

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  5. You amaze me. And if I'd known you then, you would have amazed me then for sure.

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  6. This would be one for the boys to read.

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  7. You may have been a little bitty thing with no idea about anything at all (as is true of nearly all of us at that age) -- but how courageous to take on an adventure like that!

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  8. You were and are a Steel Magnolia. I never would have had the courage to do something like that. My daughter is the same as you. Two years ago she spent three months in Zambia.

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  9. Such a beautiful picture, young, bright eyed, full of vitality. Sophie looks so much like you.

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  10. You were a CUTE littly bitty thing. While you might not have known things then, you got right on to it. I think stubborness is under-rated.

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  11. And you did it in a sweater with a kerchief tied 'round your neck. Clearly you deserved this award.

    In a million years, I don't think I'd do a thing like this.

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  12. I looked at this again. In this photograph, I see Sophie in you and you in her.

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  13. I can see Henry's easy elegance In you.
    Backpacking had a similar effect on me (a never before campfire girl or girl scout) and hiking the length of the Pacific crest trail was a dream I could see myself in. I'm quite excited to have found a women's hiking group in my town. Day hikes in the woods - but with a required kit including a space blanket and iodine tablets. No nonsense.

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  14. Awesome. You are still a steel magnolia!! :)

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  15. Radiant and captivating as always.

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