GUEST POST FOR STORY SANCTUM

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Jenn Zatopek

At the height of summer in the pandemic, I went to the mountains to leave my mother behind. Sometimes with family there are things you have to let go. For years now, I’ve sought to release the toxic narratives of shame my mother gifted me with, and my time up in the mountains was the perfect occasion to mark the leaving.

The day of leaving dawned cool and brilliant, the Colorado landscape experiencing a tiny respite from the hazy smoke blown in from wildfires as far north as Canada. My partner and I checked the air quality map and our hopes were confirmed: we would take our chances and drive up the picturesque mountain highway to the Crags trailhead and spend the day hiking the fertile wilderness, the northwestern shoulders of Pikes Peak always in our sight. . .

Please click here to read more over at Story Sanctum. 

Image: The place where I marked the leaving, Crags Trail, near Colorado Springs