We Are The Wild Ones

One of my mother’s favorite places on earth was settled within the magnificence of Glacier National Park. She spent several summers working there as a college student and my parents even had a ‘working honeymoon’ while living at Rising Sun Motor Inn. 

Rising Sun is nestled at the base of the incredible Rocky Mountains, across the road from St. Mary Lake (home of the classic Glacier Park image of Wild Goose Island resting in the middle of a lake flanked on all sides by mountains stretching to the sky).

Visiting Glacier Park after Mom died was like peeking through a window to her heart, seeing her gentle, wild spirit in a new way.  

Standing in the shadow of mountains sets you firmly in your place in the presence of our creator. The still embrace of nature communicating with the design of every cell in your body lights a fire, causing you to feel at once intricately connected to everything and yet miraculously, tenderly and uniquely created. Powerfully protected in one sense yet entirely at the mercy of the wilderness that surrounds you. 

Growing up, we took several family trips through national parks and we’d often come across areas painted black by wildfire. At first glance, these seemed like the most heartbreaking scenes, with the scorched earth a mere trace of the majestic forest that once blanketed the landscape.  

But mom taught me to look closer. Wildfires, while devastating, play an important role in mountain ecosystems; charred forest remains contain some of the most fertile ground. In fact, on closer inspection, many of these sites were teeming with new life; there’s an entire class of pyrophytic plants and flowers that are only able to germinate with fire.

What a stunning picture of hope; what was meant to destroy instead made way for life. These plants were living, growing, despite it all. 

Not unlike us. 

You and I, we’re wild ones in our own right; we each have versions of wildfires in our lives, yet here we are.

Hope doesn’t look like the Hallmark version of peace and rainbows, more often than not it looks like a small stem bravely peeking through a mountainside of ash. 

And that, my friend, should be honored. 

No, that deserves a standing ovation. 

This year, the gear for our annual Team Norah for Ronald McDonald House fundraiser honors the wild spirit in all of us. It makes space for the work you’ve done to survive your personal wildfires. It celebrates the tiny sliver of hope that pushed through despite it all. 

The families this gear supports are in the middle of their own personal wildfires, and the hope that the Ronald McDonald House leaves an impact that touches generations. Read about our experience at the Ronald McDonald House during Norah’s short time on earth here. Join us in person for the 2022 RMH Family Walk on August 20th in Minneapolis or support this great cause by simply buying a shirt. 

We are the wild ones.

XOXO