Day 47 AKA The 19th Hole
Start time: 12:01am
End time: never

I’m sitting on the porch at our friends’ mountain house outside of Helen, Georgia, drinking 12-year Glenfiddich (Thanks again, Frank and Lauren!), checking emails, and gazing at some beautiful North Georgia mountains.

Also, I’m wearing deodorant for the first time in 46 days.

Here’s a brief rundown of the past few hours: Jen slept from 10pm to 8am then again from 11:30 to 2:30. Since then, she’s been talking to reporters and checking www.people.com. (Three great quotes: when she first looked on the website, she said, “I missed you, People!” Then she said, “Tell everyone that it’s important for me to catch up on hard news.” And a few minutes later, when she was a few pages in, she said, “Oh, Kate [Princess Katherine]… you’ve done so much while I was on the trail.”)

Also, Jen’s been doing nothing. Literally. Before her late morning nap, I said, “Do you want to watch some television? Or do you want to read a magazine?” And she said, “No. I’ll just sit here.”

She also said she feels like she was hit by a semi-truck. But she’s in good spirits- as evidenced by all her funny quotes- and she’s enjoying the recovery process so far.

Tonight, we’re going to eat leftover pizza, drink red wine, and watch TV. (Another great quote: Jen said earlier, “Yeah, I timed my finish so I could watch the season finale of The Bachelorette.” She is a big fan of JP. And If I’m being honest, I have to say so am I.)

In the coming days, we’ll be spending time with family then heading to the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City before spending more time with family and returning to Asheville.

And from there, life will go on.

But before that, we want to leave you with two final blog thoughts. The first is this: words fall short of expressing how grateful we are for your support.

There is no way we could have accomplished this goal without the help of the entire Pit Crew, the trail visits from friends and family- especially at Springer- and the support and prayers so many of you offered from afar.

We look forward to seeing you at book signings, presentations- and maybe even on the trails- so we can thank you in person. But until then, a blog message will have to do. So thank you.

And the second thought comes not from us, but from the One who “was and is and is to come”…

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:26)

To God be the Glory.

- Brew and Jen (August 1, 2011)