When I danced with the clouds

It was July 2016, I was going through a divorce and I was juggling a full time job while going to school full time plus a mother to four children. I had taken on too much and it was taking its toll so a friend suggested I fly to Colorado for a few days to just unwind. At first I was very hesitant I was terrified to fly and I thought what would I do with the kids. My parents graciously reassured me that they would take care of them. I eventually agreed to go and it was one of the best things that I could have done for myself.

When I landed, the airport was so intimidating and I managed to get lost in a big way, anyone that knows me would tell you that this was no different than any other day. I was directionally challenged, its ok to laugh I still do. After two hours I finally asked someone to help me find my way to where my friends were waiting for me. On the drive to their home I was still trying to compose myself after the flight and the airport fiasco but I still couldn't help but to take notice to all of the beauty that surrounded me. I had never seen anything like it, I had never really left Ohio and the places that I had traveled to could never compare to Colorado.

My friends planned a weekend full of nature, they knew just what I needed. The day after I arrived in Colorado we drove to the Garden of the Gods first and it was very busy being a holiday weekend. So I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I wanted with my camera, I did of course with my phone. I wanted to capture these moments so when I returned to Ohio I would have an escape even if it were only through mages.

After the Garden of the Gods we went to Pike's Peak which is 14,115 feet high, it took us several hours to get up the mountain occasionally stopping so that I could capture images with my camera. My friends were very gracious to my childlike excitement asking to stop every few hundred feet to try and capture the beauty.

When we finally made it to the top of Pike's Peak it was so cold and I was certainly not dressed for it. It was July and my friends told me that it would be warm in Colorado but I never thought about how cold it would be on top of a mountain probably because I had never been on a mountain like Pike's Peak. First stop the gift shop to buy a hoodie and hot cocoa. After warming up a little I grabbed my camera and started to capture everything that I could. I went a little far out and my friends told me to be careful, my only response was if I fall to catch my camera. On top of that mountain for asthmatics like myself it can be very difficult to breathe and despite my friends concerns I just kept using my inhaler, I never wanted to leave.

My soul was at peace and even though I was gasping for air I could breathe for the first time in so many years. I knew in that moment this is where I needed to be, Colorado.

Our adventures that weekend would take us to serval places and with everyone I fell more and more in love with this state. I didn't know if I would ever make it back there but I did know that it would be my goal to be there again to visit and eventually live (still working on the living there part)

I would eventually make it back to Colorado in October 2018 after a break up and near mental breakdown, this time though I went alone. I had never done anything of this magnitude alone before so I was anxious all of the way there but as soon as I landed it was like my soul knew it was home and all of my anxiety was gone. I ventured to so many knew places, I even took myself to dinner. I was happy but sad however that was the whole reason I went back there...to release and let go as I did in 2016. This time it would be much harder to leave Colorado than it was with my previous visit.

Colorado will always will be where my soul longs to be, there it is at peace there it dances with the clouds. Something that took most of my life to find, I will always be grateful for the gift.