. This picture pulled at my heartstrings when I first came upon it. Mountains, mountains! Somewhere in my faraway past there must have always been mountains to inspire me and give me the warm feeling of being in the right place at the right time. It brings back the memories of reading the book, “Heidi” when I first started going to the library each week. And later when there were movies about Heidi and her grandfather in the Swiss Alps I would sit enthralled in the movie theaters. Eventually I watched the beautiful scenes on my IPad and felt the closeness that always comes to me when mountains appear. Knowing that I always feel comforted by the magnificence of the world that we have been placed in I have taken every opportunity that I could to travel to the Shining Mountains. It has always been where I could go to my quiet place and know that we are never really alone. Why this is I truly do not know. It seems to be where I find my inner spirit, my knowing that all is well, there really is a plan for us, no matter how uncertain the future may be. But relaxing, closing my eyes, picturing the mountains as I last saw them, brings forth the feeling of contentment, the knowing that somehow things will work out, no matter what.
Life can be and usually is a challenge for all of us at one time or another. We lose friends or relatives and it is hard for us to know the reasoning why. Children are taken from us before we are ready to let them go, and we don’t want to relinquish our parents. But sometimes we have to, and when that happens we need to have something to hold on to. For me the Shining Mountains have been and continue to be the thoughts that I hold in my mind, that there is a better place for us, there is a plan and I can close my eyes and feel the warmth and the love of it.