alight nom) in the dancing i see broken stars still shining 051008 ... unhinged my dessicated heart leapt aflame in the blazing heat of your smile 210728 ... insouciant You don’t like the cold, don’t like climbing over snow, ice, and rocks. The wind whips in your face and somehow manages to find little spaces between your outer layers to get underneath. But we have been making our way up this mountain, and somehow the parts of you best protected from the elements are too hot. This whole experience is exactly what you thought it would be, a long, rather boring, uncomfortable trek. It is more your speed to experience the weather and the elements through a window protected in a bubble of warmth and blankets. I said that this was something you needed to experience to understand me. There was a confidence in the way I was walking and the look I had on my face that you could feel my enjoyment of the same cold that threatened to overwhelm your senses with displeasure. My energy was radiant, and just enough for you to keep marching on, with only some light complaining. I said the top of the mountain was going to make it all worthwhile. That all the miserable trudging would make sense. That at the top the beauty would be matched by the sense of accomplishment, and you would remember this experience for decades. You could see in my eyes when I talked about it that I wasn’t lying. You could see by the way I kept walking, kept my excitement, and calmly soothed you after you complained, that you could trust me. You were curious to see what it was I said you needed to experience to understand this part of me. Curious enough to wake up at 6 on a weekend, get into the car, and drive a few hours to get to the base of the trail. You wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for my excitement to bring you along. I could read that you were unsure that you would be able to make it the whole way. I knew you were unhappy to wake up early, and you slept the whole car ride there. Getting bundled up at the base of the mountain was a chore for you, and your face grimaced every time the wind hit it. But I could tell you wanted to be there. I could tell that you trusted me when I said I needed you to experience this with me. You were here with me and that’s all that mattered to me. I knew you wouldn’t turn around and go back down the trail before seeing the top. I kept putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that with each step you were doing something because I had influenced you to do so. But as we went on I could see you noticing tiny things. The way the sun hit the snow on the trees, little animal tracks left in the snow, the different types of terrain we had crossed. I watched you, with my eyes alight, as you sometimes paused and took in the world around you. I knew you would remember this with me. 230606 what's it to you? who go blather from