Rocky Mountain High

"Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds."
- Psalms 36:5

We hiked a mountain yesterday - in Colorado parlance, a fourteener.  That means that we ascended to one of the fifty-three peaks in this state which are higher than 14,000 feet. Aden and William came along, as did Rob's cousin Michelle and her friend Tim. Michelle and Tim had flown in just the day before from Nashville, so we were worried about altitude sickness, which is a real concern for visitors to our area. Both experienced some nausea and headaches on the way up to Mount Bierstadt, but acquitted themselves well. Tim turned around after a few hours of good hiking and Michelle persevered to the top ridge despite feeling a bit queasy and dizzy. William hikes like a mountain goat, forcing one of his parents to push beyond their limits at all times to stay with him. Aden climbs like a sherpa, strong and  nimble and even taking Michelle's backpack on her own back to make the climb easier. We are super proud of them, and grateful to friend Heidi for keeping Daniel at her place. His seven-year-old legs aren't quite strong enough to do the 7 miles round trip.

Words cannot express how grateful I am that Rob and I were able to do this hike only seven months after a desperate point in my illness and after his serious knee surgery. At the top of a mountain, peering off at ranges that scallop off into the blue hazy distance, all things can be made new again. New mountains, new vistas, experiences that take us away from the past and into our future. Strength in our legs and in our hearts and lungs, which inhale cool mountain morning air and exhale frost and thankfulness. Even the rain and hail pellets that greeted us in the last half miles could not dampen our spirits. It's time for new goals and adventures, so I told Rob we should start 'bagging' more peaks together. He's already bagged eight or nine peaks and I only have two, so it's a going to be a challenge to catch up. And that's exactly what I need.