Ode to Daughter in the Mountains - 2023

    She came, she went, she conquered.

    I remember when she first came, a rollie pollie girl laying on our carpet.

    We would put her on her tummy; she would lift her neck and look around.

    Wide eyes and searching looks.

    We played with her inside and outside.

    Perhaps on the beaches of Santa Monica and Los Angeles

    She was most aware?

    Salt air and fresh ocean breezes.

    

    We kept moving, moving back to the Inland Empire,

    A place of higher mountains, and mountain fires, and people with whom she grew.

    On the other side of the continent, we played on the Atlantic beaches, and alighted on a rental home

    It's chlorinated pool offered us fun and sun.

    We made our way to South America,

    To a skinny country,

    Where we met many others, short and pudgy, slim or stodgy

    From Chile to the mountains, the trails towards snowy tops

    And back and forth we went.

    She would grow. She would learn.

    Books, and shows, and star fall web pages

    With music, and dances, and plays, and camping, and traveling

    She went to schools, and more pools, concerts and performances,

    Late night phone binging, early morning wake ups,

    Swimming, reading, writing, drawing, singing, dreaming

    Running, studying, vacationing

    Making friends, ending relationships,

    Growing into new ones.

    Living on hopes and dreams and actions.

    Helping the sick, assisting the needy, those who have less.

    Heading to the mountains, making them part of her,

    And returning home, to venture out again.