Another Good Book

Nerves of Steel: How I Followed My Dreams, Earned My Wings and Faced My Greatest Challenge

By Captain Tammie Jo Shults

I must have found this book on sale for the Kindle in December and I just got around to reading it this month. Over the past couple years I really been drawn to memoirs/autobiographies, and I found this one very rewarding.

The book started out with Captain Shults piloting an airliner in MAJOR distress, but very little detail was given. Then the story went back to when Tammie Jo Shults was a little girl and first thought she wanted to be a pilot. I am not sure what caught my attention about this book or what I expected from the story, but I was not prepared for all of the back story of Tammie Jo growing up being told girls could not be pilots, her battles to get into flight school with the military, her struggles with chauvinism (actually, just plain hatred) and then FINALLY back to the emergency on the plane. It was not until the last 15-20% of the book that I realized I had read the headlines about this flight on April 17, 2018 (fair warning: this link will tell you about the incident but will also be a bit of a spoiler if you want to read the book). Looking at the cover, it makes sense that the book would be about her life and not just the incident, and in the end, I was drawn in by the story of her life, her struggles (with bullies and chauvinism), how her Christian faith helped her make it through without giving up and the incredible value of a good marriage.

I have mentioned chauvinism twice (three times, now!) because it was a recurring battle for her not only in the military (being one of the early female military aviators) but also when she took a job with Southwest Airlines. She shared about the depression she went through with the false accusations leveled against her on the job (that could have ended her career), but her faith and positive attitude (she went on the assumption that her problems were due to a few "bad apples" and not company policy) brought her through. What a fascinating and ENCOURAGING life story.

If you are into flying, there are plenty of stories you will enjoy. I would think it would be encouraging to women who have experienced bullies and discrimination as well a reminder to Christians that who we are is who God says we are, not who people say we are and we are not just the job we work. I gave the book 5 stars and recommend it as a good read!

A New Activity?

I do not really remember how I ran across this book a couple weeks ago. I think I was on my phone browsing books at the library when I ran across it.

I checked out the book from the library and it sat in my home office for a couple weeks while I kept meaning to look through it. Finally I knew I would have to renew or return it, so I looked through it. I am a biker and not a hiker, but I love being outdoors and some of these trails really caught my attention. My first inclination was to copy the info for a few of these hikes, but the more I looked through it, I knew there was too much good stuff to copy. I knew I had some Amazon purchase points accumulated so I checked and, sure enough, I could get this book for "free" by redeeming points. 

As I was looking through this book last night, I remembered an email I had received a few weeks before from AllTrails.

I looked up a couple of the trails from the book on the AllTrails website and found even more helpful information, as well as discovered the AllTrails app would allow GPS use on the trail. An annual subscription came with a 30 day money-back guarantee, so I thought I would check this out, too.

On a related-but-side-note, I read a couple books on sabbath rest this last year and have been thinking about being more intentional with my day off (Friday). My days off have been out of the office, but not very intentional. I almost always have a longer-than-usual quiet time with the Lord on Fridays, but after that I mix doing "nothing" (aka piddle farting around accomplishing nothing), some home chores, doing a little church work, doing a computer job when one comes up and maybe a planned activity (reading, biking, taking dogs to the dog park, etc). Short version: I have decided to be more intentional in saying "no" to work-related activities, no teaching prep and choosing an activity that refreshes me (biking, geocaching, dog walking, etc).

With all of this in mind, the hiking/trails really interested me. I was not sure how it would go given my knee issues, but as I mentioned, I love being outside and in nature, so I thought I'd give it a try. Today I picked a relatively short hike (just under 3 miles) close to home: The Cedar Brake Trail in the Cedar Ridge Preserve about 20 minutes from home. Of course I had to take the dogs with me.

We had a GREAT time today and it seems like I picked a good hike to start with (nice scenery, all in the woods, somewhat rugged trails with a few hills). It also appears the uneven terrain was easier on both my knee and my back (muscle aches on longer walks due to being so out of shape).

I've already picked another couple hikes for us to try. We'll have to see how it goes with the dogs and hot weather (how much water I can carry), but we've got a couple months before hot weather rolls in. Today was very enjoyable and a MUCH needed refreshing, so I guess we're gonna try to more trails in the coming weeks.