The Hike

by Lucy Clarke

“To me, a friend is someone who is there when it counts: when a parent dies; when you’re going through a divorce; when life isn’t shiny and bright. Not for the holidays and the high days, or when you need a place to crash to try on a family Christmas for size.”

Loneliness wasn’t the absence of people, she realized. It was the absence of people who understood you.

If the mountains had taught Liz anything, it was that the journey was never about reaching the peak. You climbed—and kept climbing—to push through the struggle and experience the glimpses of beauty along the way. For how the climb made you feel.