ImPerceptibility

Sorry for the delay in the story. Life was keeping me too busy to write and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write as the ending anyways. I don’t feel too bad about keeping you waiting because I think anyone that has read my blog for any period of time already knows that I finished this walk. There was no way I would get 5/6 of the way across England and not finish the last 15 miles. You know me better than that.

I woke up naked and alone in my room. I was still a little drunk but not much. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was MyHusband stroking my cheek, speaking soft love words in my ear, and telling me how well I had done so far. Even though every inch of my body was sore I got up and got dressed and packed up. My sore blistered feet gingerly made their way down the three flights of stairs and into a gray dull morning. I secretly hoped it would stay that way all day. I secretly love gray dull days. They energize me more than they depress me. I guess that says something about me, or maybe not.

It took a few miles but my muscles loosened up and my feet went numb. I was doing pretty good and making good time. Iain joined us for a few miles. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to walk with us, he was hoping I’d take off my shirt again, or he had been assigned to us to make sure I didn’t die along the way. Either way he was a lot of fun and we had a good conversation. He seemed like a good guy. I hope I didn’t bore him too much with my stories. For some reason I told him some things you’ll never see me write about on here and the payment book for the hush money should be arriving in my mail any day now.

The day was going good until it started raining. It wasn’t bad at first. A light drizzle that made me feel rebellious and carefree. Walking through the rain, spirits high, bring it on! I can take it. What else you got? Then it got worse. And my formerly aching body became currently aching. Each step was harder than the last. This is where I perfected what MyHusband calls “The Windup”

First my hips would cramp and I would stop and stretch them out. Then I would take a few shuffling steps (Something like this), then I’d manage to slowly take larger more meaningful steps. I’d just be getting back into my pace when my hip would cramp again and I’d start all over again. In a way it was comical, in another way it wasn’t.

The windup continued as we walked across the most depressing marsh land I’d ever encountered. It was mile after mile of flat boring land and every inch was covered in shit – wet, slimy, slippery shit. It was not pleasant but it was the end so it was mostly tolerable. Thanks to the rain and shit there was nowhere to sit down so even at an the oldest fireman’s pace we were making good time and after what seemed like hours, because it was hours, we saw some people standing in front of a pub.

Upon entering the establishment we were informed there was only one more mile to the end. I guess I was supposed to be happy but for some reason I wasn’t. As much as I wanted it all to be over, there was still a part of me that didn’t want it to end. I declined an invitation to sit down and have a drink because I was afraid I would not be able to get up again. Sounds dramatic but it wasn’t too far from true. We walked the last mile with a few others and it did feel good to finish. It felt better to get to the pub at the end and sit down.

I sent a text message to my oldest, “We did it!”

She texted back, “OMG Awesome!”

It made my week.

We celebrated finishing the walk and also celebrated Ed’s 65th birthday with a delicious chocolate cake. Then a rowdy bus ride, that I’m sure horrified the locals, back to Carlise finished out the day.

Pizza in bed with MyHusband was dinner that night and I feel asleep in a comfy bed beside him and spent the night dreaming about salty waves on my favorite beach with the people I love. It was time to pack up these memories, take what I could from them, and move on to new ones.

Thank you to everyone. It was an adventure and I am happy to have had the opportunity to share it with you.  I’ll finish up with saying, “Until next time.” Where next time involves less walking and animal dung, but more beer!

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