Healing on the PA Quilt (and Rug) Trails

Recently my housemate took a work trip to Glacier National Monument in Montana. If you have never been to Glacier, it is something you must add to your bucket list (and do it soon as the glaciers are rapidly disappearing). Each day she has been posting photos of the area, which brought me back to my own trip there about ten years ago.

A friend and I decided to participate in a yoga retreat in Helena, Montana with three of our favorite yoga gurus. We planned and saved for a year, deciding to not only go to the retreat but to take extra time and explore Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho and Montana. Seven days before the scheduled trip we were both in a horrific car accident. Our van was hit by a tractor trailer pulling a piece of an overpass to be part of the new interstate. We were rolled and dragged by the tractor trailer, finally coming to a rest on a berm at the side of the road. Traffic was stopped in all directions and police and ambulance summoned. Miraculously we both survived; my friend with a head injury and me with minor injuries, splinters of glass covering my arms, chest and face, broken little toe, whiplash and a moderate amount of pain; yet still alive and still able to climb out of the car before the ambulance arrived.

A few hours later as my friend and I lay in the hospital, surrounded by our families, awaiting results of various xrays, my friend's husband (now ex) declared, "The trip is off!"

At no time was the trip that I had scrimped and saved for was going to be cancelled. I told my friend that I respected her decision but with or without her I was still going. This was to be a driving trip, we had planned on driving about 2,000 kilometers, I decided to use this trip to get over my new fear of being in a car and heal my achy body through the beauty of the Canadian and American Rockies. And heal I did. At first, things were slow going. Because of my injuries it was hard sitting in a car for many hours. I took things slow and listened to my body and discovered some of the most magical, unexpected places. To this day I never have regretted going.

The PA Quilt (and Rug) Trails also has healing magic. As you follow the trail you can drive through lovely Amish country, deeply wooded forest, past full running rivers and some of the most fertile land of this country. The next time you need some healing take some time off of your schedule and follow the trail. Let the healing begin.