When seeing two Pileated Woodpecker parents up close, Blissful learns that she is only passing through and to savor the moment while it lasts.
- It's an easy enough day on the Appalachian Trail (AT) though rainy without any views.
- Blissful stops at a lovely campground on the banks of Lower Jo-Mary Lake surrounded by pink Lady Slippers, as delicate as crepe.
- These first days walking south through Maine have been hard and Blissful feels like an amateur muddling through.
- While she licks her wounds, two woodpeckers poke out of a snag, chittering to each other and seemingly planning who will head out for food and how will stay with the young; it's magical.
- The lesson that "we're only passing through" is made apparent as is that she will never pass this way again.
- And this realization makes her feel gratitude for being invited into this wild world.
MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
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