Summertime Thoughts

I purchased a black journal and wrote in it almost everyday of my week in Colorado.

Journal Entry from today:

The past week I spent "unplugged" from technology was the most "connected" I have felt in a long time. I connect to something unexplainable in the mountains. A deep, peaceful sense of...something...
I have wondered, about myself, for many years...mountains or beach? Now I know...mountains. Perhaps one day I will find the words that elude me.


I miss the mountains.
I have to shake off the sadness that follows me home... and lingers for a few days afterward.

When I arrived home this time; however, MyGuy had thoughtfully picked up a very nice chunk of quartz when he and my son went on a summit hike of (ironically, lol) Mount Blue.

I took an old toothbrush and scrubbed it clean. It now sits on my desk, all sparkly, as a paper- weight...mostly white with ribbons of black and orange. Don't worry...I retired the old toothbrush.

Throughout the day, when my thoughts stray to higher altitudes, I reach for my rock (which is equal in size to my two fists put together) and press the rough, cold, hardness to my cheek. It feels like a pleasant contrast to the humid, summer-stickiness of Houston. I admit it...I smell it too, and I smell Colorado :)

'This is how life is', I think to myself.

Some days, I hold the "mountain" in my hand. Its cool strength brings memories of peace and connected-ness to my whirlwind, fractured day. But, I feel in control.

Other days, I wake up to find that my little piece of (happy, manageable) mountain became an adult overnight, and has grown right up in the middle of my house and life! I stand at the base looking at the top which is a long, long, way UP.

Instead of shiny quartz, granite, or other lovely rocks, Aspen trees and evergreens...MY mountain is made up of dishes, laundry, bills, emotional teenagers, sickness, education, troubled friends, deadlines etc.

My point?

I read this line in a novel I was reading in Colorado..."The greatest benefit is not being on top of the mountain, it's the journey of getting there."

'Yes', I agree as I recall the muscle burn, the breathlessness, the fatigue, and the scariness of my summit quest. But, I also vividly remember the indescribable and breath-robbing beauty of the view from the top, the feeling of wanting to scream "I DID it!", and the summit lust I experience as I look around and see all the other summits I want to be standing on as well.

I want to be a mountain girl.

"The greatest benefit is not being on top of the mountain, it's the journey of getting there."