you should just know

that monday was a day of redemption.

That I told the darling, living-shock of a bright smile, Megan, that we'd go for a little hike. But I forgot, for just a second who exactly I used to be; more importantly, who Megan and I are together. Alongside her I brighten, as almost everyone does at being near to a very dear friend. When together we let the ordinary grow up tall, and slip itself neatly between the course threads of daily living, We follow it to it's peaks, as Jack with his beanstalk, we see what treasures await us in the clouds, and then we climb back into our lives. Return home, with the twinkling merriment of being able to slide so comfortably in and out of the extraordinary. It is a beautiful life, that alongside friends such as mine.

And so, yesterday afternoon, we hiked. Among the flaxen residue of trees growing sleepy for the winter; preparing themselves, shedding their spring and summer day layers in preparation for yet another sweet winter catnap to rest them for their endless yawning eons.

And we climbed, up and up, and endlessly up. Three thousand feet of up, over what felt like as many miles. In the shadow of the mountain's ancient fortitude, we grew, within ourselves, at ever taller foot. The laughs became louder, the songs more jubilant. Drunken on the amber honey-ale of light you could touch.

And when we reached the top, we found we were not truly at the top. So, in our hands, we took the great strength of boulders, and under shaky, height fearing legs we stood at the apex, but still we stood. And the conquering became a game. I playful hide and seek with our own courage. In the thrumming darkness of this crevice, or just the far side of this boulder.

I could go on, and on, and on. You know I can. But the photos must speak, the moment can tell you. But can I just tell you, that last night I dreamt of her again? I dreamt of my current greatest fear, and she didn't win this time. I threw a trash can full of iced tea on her? Several actually. The brain does what it must to cope. And I awoke to a geology quiz that reminded me that mountains are the product of the Earth's great collsions with itself. They are war wounds. And today, the resuscitating breath of the mountain still in my lungs, breathing is easier.