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I am sitting on the deck of a tiny cabin, high in the Rocky Mountains where I’ve grown up. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks and green valleys where bison and antelope have ranged for thousands of years, it is far from quiet here. Birdsongs of every variety and the perpetual hum of crickets permeate the air. The scent of the ponderosa pines drifts through the sagebrush on cool soughs of wind that bring back memories from the years I’ve spent coming here with my family. 

As we celebrate our country’s independence this weekend, I am also celebrating my own. Preparing to leave my Coloradan life behind has meant packing bags, finishing an English course for early graduation, and studying German with my tutor several times a week - all packed into this whirlwind of a summer. It’s been a lot, but this weekend,  between flashcards and final essays, I escaped into the heart of the mountains with my family. I came to step away and take a deep breath of the crisp alpine air, and really let it all sink into my memory. 

Because once I’m back home, it’s go-time: just four more weeks until I board that plane to DC. 

As I look out across the valley, the distant mountains seem to show me what’s coming. Each one is like a potential path toward my future - a challenge to summit, a new part of myself to discover - and while I’m sad to leave these mountains behind, I am so excited to meet the ones that await me in Germany. 

I imagine that when I miss my beautiful Colorado home, these are the moments that I will come back to - the clearest of night skies, the sweet aroma of juniper berries and sun-warmed rocks, those final moments alone with my family - they will call me. These memories feel like steady anchors that I can hold onto while everything else is shifting around me. Soon, I’ll be a part of an entirely new life, and while that’s certainly intimidating, the idea that I get to grow into a new place instead of simply visiting it is frankly thrilling.

It is evening now. The last light has slipped behind the mountains, and the world has gone to sleep around me. Up here, the night sky feels impossibly close, and extraordinarily clear. Stars stretch from horizon to horizon, without a single dark spot - some are clustered, others are scattered, but each and every one glows like someone spilled a handful of diamonds across an indigo velvet cloth. The milky way runs straight over the cabin - if it were a trail, I could follow it if I just climbed high enough. 

Soon, I’ll be gone. I won’t see these beautiful mountains for a long time. However, there’s something about growing up here that really gets into your bones. It teaches you to look up when the trail gets difficult. To respect the terrain, but to trust your legs. To find perseverance in the climb and satisfaction in the descent. I think these lessons are going to come in handy while I am abroad. 

So yes, the mountains here are calling - but so are the ones across the ocean. I may be trading the Rockies for the Alps, but I’m not truly leaving anything behind, because Colorado will forever be my foundation. Germany is where I get to discover something fresh. Even with all of this change ahead, I feel ready. I am grounded. These mountains made sure of that.