Mt. Kilimanjaro.

In trying to explain what this experience was like I have found that I just end up talking about the different days and then wanting to laugh about all of the funny moments on the mountain that no one I am talking to would understand. This ends up with me just saying, "it was amazing and life-changing, I cried when I saw the sign at the top, the surroundings were different everyday and it left me with so many funny and fantastic memories."

For the sake of posterity, I will try to elaborate.
It was life-changing: climbing gave me the ability to really think and be inside my own head for awhile. After having my grandma pass away and then facing the reality of having to leave Africa soon after the climb I had a lot to think about. I was given a chance to really reflect on my time in Africa, my kids, the women I helped teach, my co-volunteers and who I was in relation to the world I now understood.

I cried when I saw the sign at the top; After 5 days of climbing and thinking about the summit, and then 7 hours of climbing up to Stella in the night while it was freezing cold and then 45 minutes to Uhuru we made it to the summit!! The feeling I felt was a mixture of joy, relief and excitement. I looked back at Becca with tears welling in my eyes because after experiencing and living through so many things we had finally conquered the 4th tallest mountain in the world!

memories: I have found that while some things that happened on the mountain were just reality at the time, now they are precious and funny memories. I feel that everything that happened was so wonderful and i know that it was a once in a lifetime experience because I had Becca, Kayla and Rachel with me, and our guides and the way everything happened was something i can re-live in my memory for years to come. Everything about it was wonderful, even if it wasn't wonderful at the time (even the scary spiders and being absolutely freezing and having to pee every 5 seconds due to the diamox).

While on Kili I learned that I can do so many things if I just set my mind to them. I am not saying that I wasn't aware of this before, but I was definitely putting this into action while climbing. I remember on summit day I just relied on the image of Becca's feet ahead of me. If I just kept following her feet i would  be fine. Here I must note that I was a little bit out of it due to the altitude, so my thoughts were a little strange at times. I also remember telling myself that climbing was all mental - my body could do it, I just had to believe i could and I had come all that way, of course I could summit. And...I did :). I am so grateful for the people with me, for our guides and porters and our amazing cook David and for my family and friends for being so excited and supportive of my climbing experience.

When i think about Kili i feel so happy and full of life. It is another thing that pulls me immediately back to the true happiness I felt in Africa and my desire to be back there grows strong.