10.8.25 // The Star of Seattle

The star of Seattle, Mount Rainier.
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On any clear, sunlit day, you’ll hear it whispered, almost instinctively: “The mountain is out.”
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She rises like a half-remembered dream, familiar yet always slightly beyond reach.​ An unshakable presence, both near and far.
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A gravitational pull. A grounding reminder that Mother Nature stands tall, even when we forget to look, veiled by clouds on her slopes or by the haze of our own restless minds.
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I’ve only danced in her shadows, never stood upon her crown.
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But I feel no urgency to reach her heights.
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What I love most is found in her slopes, in the way the clouds gather at her ridges, clinging like a cloak of breath and devotion.
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Maybe one day I’ll feel the clouds kiss my cheeks and the sun stain my skin at her peak.
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But even if not, I’ll keep celebrating her from below... a faithful witness to whatever quiet religion the mountains offer.