The Boots That Carried Me Out of the Jungle

In 2022 I bought a pair of Under Armour military boots.

Nothing special.

Just solid boots for hard ground.

I had no idea they were about to walk through the most violent chapter of my life.

Those boots climbed cliffs in Costa Rica.

They scrambled up waterfalls.

They pushed through jungle trails where the mud swallowed your ankles.

They waded rivers.

They carried lumber.

Tools.

Food.

Hope.

They stood on concrete floors while we rebuilt a lodge that was falling apart piece by piece.

They walked the property during storms when lightning cracked the sky open and the jungle turned black.

And one night — the worst night of my life — they carried me out.

Out of a place where everything had collapsed.

Marriage.

Money.

Health.

Identity.

When you lose everything, there isn’t a dramatic soundtrack.

There’s just silence… and the sound of your boots on the ground.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Those boots eventually fell apart.

The rubber melted and wore through.

The insoles collapsed.

I glued the soles back together more times than I can count.

Shoe Goo.

Super glue.

New insoles.

They were patched together the same way I was.

Because they were the only boots I had left.

Everything else had gone to my family.

And that was fine.

Because when you love people, you don’t keep score.

You just keep walking.

Today I put a new pair of boots on the rack.

And the old ones fell off.

Torn.

Scarred.

Held together by glue.

Right now I’m living in my sister’s basement.

Which is not where most people expect to be at this stage of life.

But when I looked at those boots, I didn’t see failure.

I saw proof.

Proof that no matter how broken something becomes…

If it keeps moving forward, it eventually finds solid ground again.

The jungle teaches a simple lesson:

Storms pass.

Paths appear.

And the man who keeps walking eventually finds peace.

Sometimes all it takes is one more step.