I yearn the way Bilbo yearns in The Lord Of The Rings; imploring Gandalf to go on one last adventure to Rivendell. He's got a great life, happy and safe in the Shire with food and friends and his gardens.
But what he wants is what is important. Mountains.
One of my favourite games I (seldom) play is Skyrim and I've never actually finished the game. I probably have finished 10% of the game. But after the opening scene and getting away from the dragon and the guards, you're left on the side of a mountain by rivers and all you see is nature. Night falls and there are auroras and giant ringed moons overhead. You can wander forever.
And then it occurred to me that I seem to play a lot of games set outdoors with solitude and gentle music in the background: Minecraft, Myst, Riven.
Bit of a theme there.
Back in the real world, I don't live anywhere close to mountains. There's one called a mountain an hour's drive away but it's no more a mountain than The Hill in Hobbiton. I grew up with summers spent in the Québec Laurentians and they are larger, soft, rounded and beautiful to look at when raining or during a sunset. But not what I'm inspired by.
My favourite trip was to Banff over 25 years ago. It was July and it snowed but then it thawed and after buying the last long-sleeve shirt in town, my future wife and I climbed the C-Level Cirque and the Beehive in Lake Louise and ate the best PB&J sandwich in the Lake Agnes Tea House. It was perfect.
So, as I sit here, sans mountains in my life, I need to re-orient myself and get moving and climbing on local hills and dales. So that I can climb some mountains again. Soon, sometime this year perhaps, I will see them again.