I'm wondering if there are other women out there in my position:
I am going to thru-hike the AT. It's all I think about. I would go tomorrow if I could, but I have to save money. My plan is to hopefully be able to go in three years.
Here's my biggest issue: I have 2 kids, they will be 13 and 12 when I want to hike. I HAVE to do this hike. I cannot wait until they graduate. I talk about it constantly with the kids. For the most part, they are very supportive already, and are excited for me. They have talked about their concerns about me being away for so long. I can't do this and split it up over a few years by section hiking. It has to be a thru-hike, start at Georgia, summit on Katahdin. And I don't want to bring them with me.
My husband works, so they will be by themselves during the day while I'm gone. My husband is very supportive as well, and has assured me that they will work it out while I'm gone, getting them to school and all that good stuff. I'm very lucky to have such a supportive family. I'm just trying to tell myself that, yes, this is completely selfish, but that's it okay to do something like this for myself. I figured if I could find other mothers out there in the same position it would help!