MLAAMB log 9

My life as a mountain bum Log 9

Crossroads and Uncle Dale...

I guess to really understand my mountain needs you need to understand where the sparkle came from....

I was a young girl, and by young I would say 8 tops, when I had my first mountain hike...

I don’t really remember much from our trip to the mountains, outside a hike with my Uncle Dale...

I remember the trail, and the wonder of the climb, although at this point I’m certain it was probably a small hill...

I remember drinking from a clean fresh spring, and feeling like that water held magic in it....

And that is all I remember from that trip, the magic of that one adventure...

Being with Uncle Dale, trying to keep up to his long strides...

Listening to him talk about the trail, and the mountains, and the nature around us....

Only to be taken back years later to another wonderful adventure up another mountain trail with that same wonderful man....

Building new mountain memories and bonds....

I think the Mountains, trail running, and hiking, is a disease that some catch early in life...

And it lays there dormant until we are ready to embrace it again...

It makes perfect sense that I would return to the Mountains for healing...

How when I was at my most broken moment I found strength...

Only to move permanently 7 years later...

And eventually make my life here.

It also makes sense that I have struggled with the last few bits of my previous life being stripped away... Embracing life of less....

A life that is stripped of titles and salaries....

And brought back to the basics...

And as the weeks go by...

And I slowly learn to let go...

It makes even more sense that I am willing to have even less...

To loosen my grip just enough to allow for a little more freedom to come in....

To really make the next year about freedom...

And self-discovery....

I turn 40 in just a few days....

It’s just another number....

But one that has me longing enough for those first mountain days 7 years ago...

When I knew nothing of the trail...

Nothing of gear...

Nothing of nutrition...

Where each adventure was filled with wonder...

And at the end I would fall into my car and cram an apple down my throat to keep myself from bonking too hard....

How I had no idea how to work my Garmin...

I didn’t know what a race was....

I owned road runners from Winners....

And was so carefree on the trail I never thought about the dangers of running alone...

I’m looking to find my roots...

The joy of being alive on the trail...

Without trying to do it all..

Or be everything t everyone....

Without spreading myself too thin and missing the whole point of being alive...

So I’m letting go of one more thing....

One more stress...

One more role...

One more paycheck...

And I’m going to focus in on the things that I am really thriving in....

Including my adventures.....

Because the mountains are calling....

And I must go!