I hike for you

and with you.

The memories of me trying to keep up.

You so agile,

as if you were born on the trail.

The mountains were your home and now,

they are mine.

And ours.

I still stumble crossing creeks.

You never did, not once.

I am never alone as I hike in solitude,

like now as I sit on this rock beside the trail.

Your energy surrounds me as I write these words

you saying, ‘come on, lets go’

even though you love that my journal is always in my backpack.

You told me to live a life of intention,

never a life of obligation.

It took me years to understand.

Now I realize what you meant

all those years ago.

‘Do it for us,’ you said. ‘I can’t but you can.’

And today, I am doing the very thing

you dreamed for me and for you.

And you were right.

It’s better to be free.