“The trees were friendly, they gave me rest and shadowed refuge. Slipping through them, I felt safe and competent. My whole body was occupied. I had little energy to think or worry.”

“Beneath hot sun, desert roses bloomed. Under cold moon, I still refused to.”

“And so, despite the complex web of paths, waterfalls, cliffs, as a hiker wanders downhill, drainages merge, faint, abstract paths coalesce, thicken, until there is one path the one, natural, trodd...”

“I was passive by nature. I had always been. Arguing felt unnatural and uncomfortable. I was always agreeing even when I didnt really, instinctively looking for ways to forfeit power, to become more...”

“This was trail magic. Sea Breezes fire, his light, his heat, his life, remained, their salvation. It is a fact that all drainages, if followed downhill, lead to the same lowland water body. Lost an...”

“I saw now that bad men existed who would take advantage of any weakness and insecurity they found when violating a victim. I saw it was not my fault; I did not choose to be raped or kidnapped. But ...”

“Beneath hot sun, desert roses bloomed. Under cold moon, I still refused to.”

“I was passive by nature. I had always been. Arguing felt unnatural and uncomfortable. I was always agreeing even when I didnt really, instinctively looking for ways to forfeit power, to become more...”

“There was so little I wanted to carry. Packing my backpack took me all of four minutes”

“Understanding the Way of Story as a sacred pattern and a living event. Story can reveal a spiritual path and or the way to healing. Stories become the foundation of health, peacebuilding and vision...”

“Stories nurture our connection to place and to each other. They show us where we have been and where we can go. They remind us of how to be human, how to live alongside the other lives that animate...”

“One afternoon as I just gazed at the topmost branches of those immensely tall trees I began to notice that the uppermost twigs and leaves were lyrical happy dancers glad that they had been apportio...”

“Sometimes walking away has nothing do with weakness, and everything to do with strength. We walk away not because we want others to realize our worth and value, but because we finally realize our own.”

“Maybe, because all these good people loved me enough to help me, maybe I wasn't quite as bad as I felt. Maybe there was a part of me that was worthy of their love.”

“What a lot of humans fail to see is that they don't need to do anything to be valuable--they already are.”