When I started work on The Mountain Climber, I told a good friend about what I was trying to do and, when I told him the title, he nodded and said, "Because we all have mountains to climb."

He understood immediately what I was trying to say. It has been my experience that we all, indeed, have mountains that we encounter, some large, some small. It makes no difference how big they seem to someone else; what matters is how each one presents itself to us.

Its not a good idea to force the metaphor; our lives do not correspond to the AT. Trying to reduce our lives to a linear experience is not only a mistake, but often results in missed opportunities for both learning and celebration.

Still, the image is rich with possibility.

Come to think of it, Sisyphus and the Itsy-Bitsy Spider makes use of the same image. Maybe I'm being nudged toward something worth more exploration.