an ode to the mountains

November 2020:

Dear mountains, this is only the beginning for you and me.

September 2024:

Dear mountains, I told you i’d be back.

It was in November of 2020 that I hiked in the Canadian Rockies for the first time as an adult, struggling up a steep slope in the wind, snow, and ice on Ha Ling Peak outside of Canmore, Alberta. I came back to the Rockies this past September with my two sisters, my sisters partner, and their pup, to do that exact same hike, but this time, in the sunshine of summer heat melting into cool fall air. That day up on the mountain in 2020 in nearly winter weather had cemented a love for the mountains in me, one that I didn’t quite realize was so strong, and I wanted to come back and actually get to the top of that peak.

On the September holiday Monday, I got to the top of the mountain that day, danced for joy like Maria in the Sound of Music, then laughed, talked, and ran with my sisters all the way back down the mountain, feeling incredibly accomplished.

While I have fallen in love with the Coastal mountains, Island Alps, and the Rockies over the past four years, I have also realized that there is no mountain greater, higher, or tough to climb, than the one you must witness within yourself. What is your mountain? What steep slope do you need to face? What storms are you yet to weather? How will you prepare? How will you face them?

This past summer has been one of immense growth and healing. I came home to myself once again, completing another cycle of death and rebirth as I have come to accept will happen many times over throughout my life.

I have learned to embrace these cycles like rapids in a river. Life keeps going. The water keeps rushing, on and on and on. Don’t get stuck. Keep moving forward. Dropping my resistance to change and accepting what is with a heart full of compassion is my new way of being. I am looking inside myself for the answers, where they have been all along. I am no longer waiting for anyone or any one thing to bring me happiness or save me. “The purpose of life is to learn how to save yourself” (Brianna Wiest).

Mindfulness is everything, and so is letting go, having fun, and letting your inner child play and run wild. No one shines more than a woman in her authentic power. Your people will see that, and they will love you better for it. Shine, shine, shine.

Dear micaela, welcome home.

All for now,

All my love,

Onward.

-m