Something Wild and Wonderful

In truth, the seeds of this hike had been in Ben’s brain for a long time. Jeremy’s incessant storytelling about the Appalachian Trail only helped germinate them. He had been a rambunctious kid, full of too much energy, in a way, but while his older brother Tiago had put his into sports, and Carolina had put hers into ruthless academics, Ben had bloomed in the outdoors. He felt fully, truly at ease only when he was on the move in the open air. Exploring. Discovering.

Once he grew past the age where playing in the dirt wasn’t an acceptable form of daily activity, though, his restlessness had amplified in other, less cute, unhealthier ways. Almost the entire decade of his twenties had been a string of bad decisions: failed relationships, missed family obligations, messy hookups. Strings of jobs that paid the bills but didn’t satisfy much else.

Until two years ago, when Ben had finally been able to focus enough to go back to school and get his nursing degree. Which he was proud of. He had worked harder than he had ever worked at anything to get that degree, and he was excited to start a legit career he truly cared about.

He was also nervous as hell.

So when he passed the National Council Licensure Examination, instead of applying to jobs right away, he came here first. To the West Coast, the Pacific Coast Trail, an outdoor adventure unlike any he’d ever experienced before. One last chance, on the precipice of his thirtieth birthday, to get his restlessness out. To commit to better decisions. To see something new, something grand, while he prepared his new, responsible life.