Not Suffering is a Good Thing

I couldn’t put the book down. I read half of it the first day, until 1:30 a.m., under bright lights in the master bath as my beloved snored away. I thought I would finish one chapter and go to bed, but I was rooting for this self-aware, thin-boned ex-party chick to trek more miles with her gentle mountain-man husband on the harsh and beautiful Pacific Crest Trail. Two chapters later I was cursing the fact that I had to get up in less than five hours to drive my kid to school.

When Gail Storey announced that review copies of her book was upon request, I jumped at the chance.

Free book. A memoir (I am writing one). And she looks like fun in her picture on Facebook.

Despite living in the Boulder proper for almost four years, I am no hiker, not quite granola crunchy. Why would I want to read “I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail?” Aside from it being free, I like the idea of not suffering. I requested a copy, and what a treat.

As I read, I wondered how would I write like Gail to keep people reading into the wee hours of the morning?

1. Humor. At age 56 (or any age), taking six months to traverse over 2000 miles from US/Mexico border to Canada in the wild is no joke. “Instead of self-medicating with martinis like I was raised to by a respectable line of clinical depressives, here I am hiking the PCT on HRT and an SSRI.” Gail wrote. A little later, she was “addicted to ibuprofen.”

2. The author reflects upon and owns her baggage; flashbacks revealed a childhood from a violent household fueled by alcoholism and a mother’s stoic, inaccessible way of (non)relating. The backstories transitioned smoothly in and out of the narrative. I willed for Gail, demons and all, to succeed.

3. Vivid colors and images. I feel like I was there with the author and husband, but without the heavy backpack, bugs, and fatigue (though I was getting tired at 1:15 a.m.). I learned about trees and fauna on the Trail. “These shrubs absorbed water in the winter, and fell dormant to survive the long, dry summer. At a distance, they looked the same gray-green, but up close, they were amazingly varied -white-flowered, chamise, mountain mahogany, lavender yerba santa, holly-leaf cherry, sumac, sagebrush, and mountain spray.” Lovely.

4. It’s about love, sex, and an impending death of a parent. It is refreshing, and a privilege, to share the author’s thoughts and actions in the context of her marriage -where they had been and where they were going -in nature, in sex, in the occasional company of those trail-named Billy Goat, Buzz and Issy, Llama…, in awe, in danger. They started the trip together and at times it seemed like they might not make it. I cried and cheered. Throughout the trip, the author also contended with losing her mother and coming to terms with a complex relationship with her.

All this packed in a narrative of 210 pages. Whoa. I think I am going to read it again. I appreciate a strong woman, one who knows who she is and keeps overcoming. It is a tale of empowerment, mind, body, and spirit, of breaking out of a mindset cocoon, a shedding of all sorts. The author evolved, prevailed, failed, and came into her own.

The whimsy within Gail remained. She appeared at her Boulder reading wearing the book cover, a tiara, a black lace shirt, black boots and sequined leggings.  Her husband loaded a slideshow of the journey and sat in the front grinning with pride. Their bond was felt in the cavernous room, and this book spreads their vibration of love. I bought a copy and she signed it.

“I Promise Not to Suffer” is inspirational. Not that I am going to hike anything major, but I will definitely take a risk and do something I have always wanted to do (TBA). And I too, promise not to suffer.

Here is the book trailer: