Mountain Girl

Footprints in the Snow

"I am fulfilled going into the fray of life, come what may, with a heart full of love," says the young woman as she embarks on a plane to Zendu.

"People will eat me there, they say—throw me in jail, commit me to hard labor. But the people I've met from there are the kindest I've known, precisely because they have endured so much."

"While people are eating me, I'll be eating my fears," she smiles.

"Then I'll go climb a big, beautiful mountain—the biggest on the continent."

"And as I climb, I'll let each step leave my fears behind, like footprints in the snow."

"I'll let the past fall behind me too. All the worries of my life will be left far down below."

"I'll have clear eyes and a clear heart the higher I go. At the summit, all will be clear," she muses.

"Maybe I'll be eating my own words too," she chuckles.

"I'll probably get hit with clouds, gusts, and frigid temps. But even that gives clarity, doesn't it?" she smiles.

A story by Pemba Umoja