After a year and a half, I was awarded disability.
My pride hurt.
Options bleak.
I said, “I wish I was in the mountains” and my sister said, “What's stopping you?”
There was no answer.
I looked at everything I owned packed in my truck.
The silence of no excuses echoing in my head.
The weight shifted from longing to motion.
First stop: Cherokee National Forest.
The road opened and I began.
Survival became stewardship.