A lot of emotions around the North Georgia mountains this week - hope, anger, sadness.
There has been a hiker missing in these mountains for a week, we have been following the news stories. The disappearance, the search and rescue effort, the capture of a person of interest, the parents' pleas, the clues piling up pointing toward only bad news. It is finally over, her attacker led the authorities to her body last night.
Is it not safe to hike in the woods any more? Can we not get out on a sunny day and hike on a popular trail in the mountains? I know this is not about me, but somehow I feel it is about me and everyone else who enjoys the peacefulness of the trail, everyone who loves these beautiful mountains.
I did not know this young woman, but I can certainly empathize with her family. I have daughters around her age, daughters who we teach to be self sufficient, to be confident enough to go it alone. I know the family is relieved to have the search over, glad that the nut is in custody, but now they will have to live with this forever, their beautiful daughter gone too soon.
About laying to rest and then flying
How the moment at hand
Is the only thing we really own
And I lay in my bed and I wonder
After all has been said and is done for
Why is it thus we are here
And so soon we are gone
Is this life just a path to the place
That we all have come from
Does the heart know the way
And if not, can it ever be found
In a smile or a tear or a prayer
Or a sigh or a song
Why is it thus we are here
And so soon we are gone
~lyrics "On the wings of a dream" by John Denver
