Because I wanted to — Emma Gatewood. Until I read Bonnie Whitehouse’s Afoot and Lighthearted, I never knew about Grandma Gatewood who at 67 was the first woman to hike the Appalachian trail alone. Her story would make a great movie. When Emma was asked why she set out on such a trek, she said, “Because I wanted…

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To explore is to delight in taking a risk. — Bonnie Smith Whitehouse, Afoot and Lighthearted. I admit that as I get older I’m not a big risk taker, probably never was. My wife on the other hand is an explorer at heart. Every dirt or gravel road calls her. I act as her restraining bolt, and…

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“Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” — Albert Camus. My book club has been reading about the philosophy of stoicism for the last weeks, and one cannot read a page of quotes without coming across philosophy and philosophers. The science of philosophy is a worthwhile…

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I am finishing my book on practicing stoicism. One chapter is on learning, and it suggests that most of us we don’t take the task of learning as seriously as we take the training the body. The author has a point. If I go to the gym I feel good about my workout and “getting…

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