With Each Step I Take...

This past memorial day, there were 12 of us in our local OA fellowship that gathered to walk together in an organized community walk.  It wasn't the charity that mattered or the length of the walk (5K), it was the taking of one step at a time together as a fellowship.  The weather was great and even some of our families/friends came with us for our outing.  Some of my friends in OA came dressed in jeans, some in shorts and even one in gold spandex.  No matter who we are, where we come from or even how we dress, we are all compulsive overeaters.  Walking a 5K with my friends in recovery feels good, even if some fall a few feet behind or some skate way ahead of me.  I'm just glad they are on the journey with me. 

Yesterday I returned from a wonderful vacation filled with hiking and camping...two activities I never could do before recovery.  I wanted to do both but my disease manifested itself so that I physically could not hike more than a 1/4 mile and mentally I could not handle being the least bit "uncomfortable".  As many vacationers were taking pictures of the Grand Canyon from the top of the rim, I was hiking down the rim, across the Colorado River and back up the rim for an 11 hour hike of my life.  I experienced the Grand Canyon as I had dreamed...actually beyond my wildest dreams.  On a humorous note, the hike was so exhausting that when I had taken the last step back up, I said to my partner, "let's get the hell out of here, I've seen enough of this canyon and it's seen enough of me!".   - Rachael W.