WHY I WANT TO BE A MOUNTAIN WHEN I GROW UP

To me, mountains are magical. I grew up in the flatlands of a Florida swamp. I loved the landscape around me but I fantasized about having a hill across the street. (I think the highest spot in Florida is officially Garbage Mountain near Ft. Lauderdale.) My Mother and I would take trips to see relatives hear Huntsville, AL and I loved driving through the hills. I went to the Rockies in 2004 and felt a great affinity with the mountains there. It was like walking and driving through a postcard. It wasn't until 2006 that I really found my true home.

Mary Jane and I were heading to New York and Montreal so I drove up from Florida to Franklin, NC where her family lives. Before this trip, I had no idea that the Blue Ridge Mountains were so majestic. I immediately fell in love with the area. Then, on our way to Frederic, MD, we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was the height of leaf season and the colors were unbelievable. I thought to myself, "THIS is where I want to live!"

I love the many moods of the mountains. I love them when they're clad in the ethereal green of early Spring. I love when they're dark, mysterious and surrounded by mist in the heart of Winter. I love their lush, deep-green midsummer dress and their transcendent, multi-colored rainment in the Fall. I admire their solidity and stability. You can trust a mountain. You can walk on it and it will support your every step. The mountains where I live are almost 400 million years old. That's almost as old as life itself. There's an ineffable wisdom here, something in the air. Being here has changed me, in ways I couldn't have expected or predicted. If mountains talk, I imagine it would be a very deep voice, something far below what humans can hear.

One time, at our community property I was looking at a mountain ridge in the distance and I asked myself, "What does that say to you?" The answer came back, "Everything is all right." These mountains have seen so much and they're still here. They'll be here damn near forever as long as a coal-mining company doesn't get ahold of them.

I want to be like these mighty mountains. Calm, dependable, sheltering. One day my body will be buried among them. In that moment, any ideas of being separate that I have will be gone. There will be no denying what has always been the case - I am a mountain.