So, What’s it About?

I spent the first 2 months that I was asked this question, trying like hell to answer it. It’s hard to encapsulate, and that is part of the reason a whole entire manuscript was warranted. If I could tell it in a Facebook post, it probably wouldn’t be too compelling of a story, now, would it. Here’s my attempt to catch even those who don’t know anything about it to get a glimpse.

I am a mom who lives in the suburbs of Seattle. I live a pretty normal life in that vein. I run a business, I run kids to soccer, I run to the mountains to photograph and write about them. (And I just run, too.)

This is the part where the normal goes away. I ended up in Nepal, hiking up a famous path called the Everest Highway, on a project designed to raise awareness and funds for global environmental issues. During this project I lived in Nepal for a month with a handful of Nepalis, and a few Americans. And they weren’t normal. They were musicians and mountain climbers – extraordinary ones. And it wasn’t a normal trek. Some pretty extraordinary things happened along the way.

So the month that I lived there changed my life. And I don’t mean it in the ethereal, touchy-feely way (though that’s true too). I mean that I learned some pretty ground breaking things that I never would have learned if I hadn’t done it. When that happens I have to write it down. Have to. For fear that it is a dream and if I write it down, well, at least I’ll be able to read about it later and pretend it was real, right?

So the book is my attempt at grabbing that dream by the tail and pulling it back toward me, and onto a page where it can be enjoyed, remembered and shared. Thanks to Elizabeth Gilbert and TED for that amazing description of the creative process.