Our Mountain Home

By: Kelly McDonald

Thirty years ago, we built

a new family home

for seven children,

at the base of a mountain, where we

made sure nothing would 

block our view of its rugged slopes.

Summer and winter, an alpine 

spectacle kept us enthralled

with this highland place.

Stark and shining in mornings

sometimes swaddled in clouds,

a sinister landscape in evenings. 

The children grew, developed their lives,

left for adventure,

started their own homes.

Now that all have moved on,

one is deceased,

What keeps us in this mountain place?

Building long neighborhood friendships

that didn’t evaporate

when children moved.

Those thirty years of simple daily life,

still sustains our thinking

of our mountain home.

We’ve become septuagenarian, doddering,

winding down, contemplating

that final adventure.

After sending down roots,

we’ve no desire

         to home elsewhere.

And the mountain, with its changing moods

of brilliant sunrises 

and deepening shadows.

will help us remember our stories,

through those many decades

of our lives together.