NaBloPoMo #7

I'm in reflective mood today. I turned to my very first blog, Northern Trip, and the entry for this day in 2004. I was in Fort William, to be precise, the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel. At the time, I was youth hostelling my way round Scotland, just a few days off heading northwest for the Outer Hebrides. On that day, I explored the forestry plantations on the western flank of Ben Nevis. It was towards the end of my wanderings round the Highlands and Islands, what with winter coming on. A beginning of the end of a difficult period of my life. As you all know, I've stayed in the Outer Hebrides for 15 years. Slowly, very slowly, during that  period, I was to climb out of the slough of shutting everything out, only one day at a time, without regard for the future. Five and a half thousand days later, I'm beginning to regain the high ground. I'm infinitely grateful for the kind soul in Stornoway who took me in. I have attempted to repay that kindness over later years. That period is closing now, the person concerned now being very advanced in years and rapidly declining health. Very soon, I'll make the necessary steps towards the next phase in my life.