Top of the World

It's hard to imagine a better day than this, spent on top of the world in more ways than one.

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I woke up to an email titled "Good news!!!" from Libby at my adoption agency. Three exclamation points, a splendid way to greet the day. (Daniil! Daniil! Daniil!)

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Then I drove from Denver to Aspen to start my week-long vacation. I stopped at Independence Pass, elevation 12,095, and hiked for 3+ hours, gaining another good 1200 feet in elevation and taking in mountains upon mountains, ridges upon ridges, alpine wildflowers, and not another soul until the very end. Thank you, body constitution, for the capacity to adapt immediately to altitude, no headache, no nausea, no problems with heart rate or breathing.

Then, as if all of this weren't already more than enough, the other soul who passed me on my descent was a handsome man, another lone hiker, who asked if I wanted to join him in Snowmass next week to hear live old-timey music, the exact genre I study with my fiddle teacher Brittney. He's also going to loan me a pink bicycle--pink!--so I can pedal around Aspen to the library, the bookstore, the farmers market, the classical music tent.

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A Russian boy, 13,000' vistas, a pink bike. What more could a girl ask for? A jackpot day, a breakthrough day. Stars aligned. Doors opened. I can't pretend to understand it, but am humbly grateful. May I be worthy of these gifts. And may these blessings serve not only me, but, through me, many, many others.