The beauty of the earth - and of life

My mother passed away last week; the conclusion of a long and fretful journey that raised many questions about life and its value. If I had a pound for everyone who’s since said it was a blessing in the end, I’d have a healthy donation to the causes she cared for. But the arc of this piece is not to dwell on mortality - rather it’s to remember the joy of living and how we might grasp it.

I was in the Alps the days before she died, walking in the high spring meadows she would have so loved. Indeed, it was her who first took me to the mountains and though no climber, she could have named every flower and tree that we passed. Despite years of making long motorway journeys to see her, I think she would have been glad I was in the hills, rather than at her bedside.

For is there any better place to reaffirm the circle of life than an alpine pasture?

Walking with my son, we saw marmots and lizards emerging from winter slumber, gentians poking through the rocks (oh, how I wish they could make a wreath of those), swallowtails dodging the spray from snowmelt waterfalls… Everywhere, and in different ways, the unbounded energy of the sun.

But most of all, there was joy throughout, even from the ultra-runners that passed us on the descents! As our two-day trek came full circle, they still had miles to go – and though I didn’t envy them their challenge I thought of their drive to push the limits of what’s possible. That’s what my mother would have wanted – for us to live to the full, to be connected to nature and to follow our paths wherever they might lead.

Holding that thought, now and in the future, is the most important legacy she has left me.

Take joy in the beauty of the earth