MOUNTAINS

My father planted the seed for wanderlust and the dream of experiencing new places. He had spent some time climbing a few mountains in the Philippines when I was small.

I marveled at the lushness of the forests in the photos my father brought back from his trips:

I had asked him once to take me with when I was old enough, but life had other plans.

The nursing shortage hit the USA pretty hard, and my mother was lucky enough to be hired by a great company. They paid for the entire family to make the move far from everybody else we knew, and so far from the old life we had. We came to Minnesota with just a few items of clothing and some of our most cherished mementos. I had a daughter shortly after and was dedicated to bettering myself for both our futures. I studied to become a nurse because what else do Filipinos do? (LOL, JK)

I forgot about mountains for a long time.

I was working a couple of shifts each week so I could get through nursing school and I didn't have a lot of money to spend.

@ghostfish and I met when my daughter was 4. He had already been listening to the siren song of the wild.

He often went on trips to climb mountains with his childhood buddy, and showing me photos as my dad had done. I was eventually able to get a job that paid decently, and saved enough money to visit his old friends in Washington state.

My tempestuous love (hate) affair with elevation started on the Glacier Basin trail, on Mount Rainier.
It was an easy enough hike, but I was a sedentary couch potato for years and I also suffered from asthma.

(Pictured: Bb couch potato trying her best to hike up a mountain)

It was always the lure of mountains that called @ghostfish time and time again, so I wanted to follow. It ended up being 7-mile roundtrip hike up to Glacier Basin and a few hundred feet beyond on Mt. Rainier or 6,300 ft.(2,000 vert. )

I was tired as hell and my lungs ached but it was exhilarating.

I never understood why people would push themselves to exhaustion and put themselves in danger for this, but now I do. The view brought me to tears.

I understand it all now, and I never want to forget.

(Mt. Elbert @ 12,500 ft, 2017)