I have multiple MudLOVE bracelets and have given many as gifts but two are most important. I wear my “breathe” bracelet nearly every day. It reminds me to take a deep breath whenever I am overwhelmed by the small challenges through out the day that would otherwise steal my joy.

The other bracelet is a personalized one that one of my best friends had made before our first hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail in 2017. It reads: AT 2017 JACJ. JACJ are the initials of my mother. She passed away before her 45th birthday when I was just 17. In 2017, the year I turned 45, I planned to hike 45 miles of the Appalachian Trail to honor her memory and remind myself to live my life to the fullest, that each day is gift, and that so am blessed to have more life on earth than she had. It’s a long story but the short version is that I made that hike with my two best friends by my side and that bracelet on my wrist. And now we hike a section each year with hopes of eventually doing all 14 states of the AT.

Story by Dawn B.

In this story: custom bracelet.

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