Her bucket list said “climb a mountain,” but life got in the way, then kids, then health. In her seventies, she had all but given up on the dream until her grandson stepped in. Inspired by his grandmother, he too had also put mountain climbing on his list. She lamented not going and made him promise that he wouldn't let anything get in his way.
“Okay. But you're going with me,” he said.
“No, I'm too old,” she said and made herself comfortable in her recliner.
Two months later, he showed up at her home with two plane tickets. “You told me not to let anyone stop me,” he said. “And since I won't go with you, and you refuse to go, I won't let you stop yourself.”
“It's too high,” she said.
“Smallest mountain in the world.”
“It's cold,” she said.
He pulled a new parka from a bag. She gave in, and at seventy-one years old, she climbed her mountain.
- Originally mailed to M. Whitfield of Gulfport, Mississippi
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