Beauty at the Top -- Shelf and Solitude Lakes

The top lake is Shelf. The lower one is Solitude, which is above Shelf. The other pictures are of the small waterfalls and tundra between the lakes. The shot of me is from a rare resting spot about 3/4 of the way up the trail.

As I viewed the photos from these lakes and the meadows between them, I was tempted to post all of them. The beauty of that area will show you why we were willing to push ourselves to make the trek. We will remember the beauty far longer than the fear and pain. I would make the trip up the ridge again, but then I would have to come down. Probably not.

I keep hoping that after a dismantling of another part of the cloak I wove to cover and protect me from hurts (as much as I could)--called the false self by Fr. Thomas Keating, I will come upon a true self piece of beauty and grace in my adult self. It hasn't happened that way for me. But I have found that taking the slime and mean behavior from that little girl Margaret, there is a child who is sweet and kind. The kindness isn't a surprise, but sweet?! I can read high school yearbooks' comments that say "to a sweet girl," but they didn't know me well. No one who does has ever called me sweet!

That little girl self reveals more of herself as I allow her to grieve the tough shell she had to develop to do the forced evil tasks in the terrible meetings. There's no doubt she loved it when she felt power coming from her actions. Then she would realize that she had a part in the evil. That hurt. My spiritual journey has taken me to the core of the child I was when I was forced to participate in unspeakable rituals. There I have found beauty. The trek is worth it.