{3/15/13, 5:30pm, PST; Top of the hill behind the Chapel Theater at the Wild Mountain Memoir Writer Retreat, Leavenworth, WA}
15-minute Freewrite
I have never in my life been surrounded by such sheer beauty. I'm sitting on a huge rock, facing gorgeous mountains covered in snow, and yet, it's the perfect temperature. Not hot, not cold, just somewhere in between.
The rush of the water shooshing downstream is so soothing. It's calming my nerves a bit. This place is so peaceful and serene.
Earlier today it was raining. Not hard, not even enough to get me wet, really. Just a gentle mist coming down. The leaves smell damp and musty, but I like it. The cool air is so refreshing.
I almost feel like I could expect to see a bear up on the mountainside in front of me. I'm looking, but haven't seen one yet. I got a close-up of that bright green moss that grows on all the trees here. It's almost fluorescent, it looks fake.
I feel like I could sit up here all day, breathing in the mountain air to become one with the perfect natural space laid out before me. But it's almost time for dinner. And time for the retreat to finally start. I better run back to my room to see if I can meet my roommate. It's 5:45pm already and dinner starts at 6.
{On Saturday afternoon at the retreat, my roommate Natalie and I went back up to that spot and she took this picture of me. I truly feel it captures every ounce of excitement and the sheer joy within me from the changes I had begun to experience at Wild Mountain.}