I have to credit Josh for getting me moving. He encouraged me lovingly then reminded me in no uncertain terms that, if I did not move from that spot, I would die in it. I got to my feet, and together we locked arms and leaned into the 90mph winds, trusting one another and our crampons to keep us from slipping down the many hundreds of feet of cascading rock and icefall.
Read MoreMy past of sleeping in my car in parking garages, daily panic attacks, and struggling to be with my children because I could not afford groceries was all behind me as I took my first step toward the trail head. I journeyed in the present tense, enjoying snow-blanketing landscape, venturing across ice-covered waterfalls, and breathing in the crisp silence of the hermetic hills.
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