Mountains and Mist

This was my fourth year on the ALYN hike - this year we were about 45 hikers, divided between the "Scenic" and "Challenge" routes. I was seriously debating which group to walk with on Wednesday - 20km or 9km.  The point that tipped the scales was that the 20km hike would be a section of the Israel trail, and I really liked the idea of getting started on a 1000km goal like that.  Some hike it straight in 6-12 weeks.  There are others who hike one day a month and it takes about 5 years. 20km sounded like a lot, but I decided that since my increased running schedule went well the week before, and because I was coming from a women's retreat earlier that week (I was a Tai Chi instructor there) so I would be well rested - I was up for it. Our 12th grader had a school performance Tuesday night, so I drove down from Jerusalem to Machtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater) on my own.  I pulled into the campsite at midnight, brushed my teeth, unrolled my sleeping bag into the empty ten

Each evening, after a long day of hiking, we get to sit around the campfire and hear stories about who we are helping. This year, we had two ALYN parents on the hike and they shared some of their stories.  One mother told us about her book - about a superhero in a wheelchair - which she wrote to help normalize being in a wheelchair.  After she published it, she distributed copies within the community and her son went from being somewhat outcast into a superstar.  (https://www.wheellustratedtales.com) Another parent, a father, talked about how nausea quickly brought them to discover their son's brain tumor.  And after the operation he suffered from a complication which makes motor skills start from zero (I don't remember the name) - bringing the parent-sleeping-in-hospital estimate up from an impossible 3 weeks to something like 1.5 years.  But his son speaks again, and they continued with daily hospital outpatient work to help him regain mobility and ability in many many areas.