The Mountains We Conquer

So it's been a month since graduation and a month since we left for Atlanta to work with Habitat for Humanity. I've been trying to think of how to describe the week and how I felt and how I grew, but I kept putting it off and kept lacking the words. Even now I'm not sure if I'd do it justice. The week had its highs and lows and even the lows had their high points--literally and figuratively. The one afternoon we headed to Stone Mountain and took the explorer's path to the top, aka we made our own path to the top. I was a worried mess and everyone kept calling me "Mom" because I was anxious and wearing these huge pair of jorts. But when we finally made it to the top, the view was worth it. You could see downtown Atlanta and everyone made it to the top, with many laughs and adventures. 

To quote myself from last year (who quoted Edmund Hillary), "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." I think that is even more applicable this year than last. Who would have thought that we made it the whole week in one piece, making substantial progress on someone's home, nineteen people together? Who would have thought I'd even make it to this week in one piece (thank you Elise)? We tried, which I think is good enough in itself. We tried to make a difference. We tried to stand on the highest rung of scaffolding. We tried being open. We tried to forget and remember and learn. Yeah, sometimes trying isn't good enough but it teaches you a lot about yourself and about others. So I guess I learned to keep trying, even at the lowest of lows, and I hope we exposed everyone to the idea of trying when you get back home, to keep trying to improve your life and the lives of others.