Me and the Mountain...

8:45 am...the sound of a jack hammer yanks me from my slumber...I'm up. Annoyed is an understatement...I shut all the windows put a pillow over my head and try my best to go back to sleep...although this invasive noise is right outside my bedroom window...the neighbors are responsible..I feel like killing...the constant sound is giving me a headache as I lay there for an hour trying to sleep or wait for it to subside...no such luck...this is Los Angeles afterall. I can't take anymore! I jump up and put on my work out clothes and decide to take my frustration out on the mountain. Runyan Canyon...it's under a mile from our house and quite the work out. So off I go..pissed off at this city...on my way to the base of the Canyon I fight thru the exhaust of all the traffic, trying not to breathe it in..but it's useless..the air is tainted here. I think to myself...once I get to the top of the mountain I can sit in silence and laugh at the city from atop my mountain. There will be clean air there, no noise, no people! I forge ahead...on the initial climb up I see trash, hear other hikers gabbing away, an outdoor yoga class is full to the brim with people. Keep climbing, I think...and so I do. It is a hot day and beads of sweat are rolling down my face, damn this mountain, this is hard...this is work! I'm half way there though...further away from the chaos below. Then I hear the piercing sirens of an ambulance. Really?! from way up here...ugh! Ok...I'm not at the top yet...keep going..away...further away from the madness. I daydream of Montana...acres of uninhabited land, crisp clean air, the sound of nothing. No one. I stop to catch my breath...my legs feel like jello, heat storke is very possibly setting in...I want to turn around...and then I think of my brother. I can conquer this mountain...and I remember the word sacrifice. I think about why I am here. In this town, on this mountain. I still hear the city...I must make it to the top and claim my moment of solitude and quiet. I continue to climb...and climb...and climb. Finally, I reach the very top! I now only hear my own breath. I am alone. I stop...look out at the city. It looks so peaceful from way up here. I shut my eyes and relish in the silence...FINALLY...silence. Sweet silence. I am content. And then...I hear something, faint at first but quikly growing louder...I open my eyes to see a helicopter to my left disturbing my peace, here at the top where I am supposed to be away from it all. I thought at the top there would be peace...and then I realize... I am still in LA. There is no peace here for me and this is where I choose to be, because my climb isn't done and I'm not at the top of where I want to be. I have more work to do and so peace will be mine, but not today...I have more to climb....
"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace." Amelia Earhart