Remembering Grandma Anne

Just before we left for our trek, I got an email from my dad that my Grandma had passed away. Although I was prepared for the news (her health had been deteriorating rapidly over the past couple weeks), it still hit me pretty hard, and I unsuccessfully held back tears on the walk back to our guesthouse. My whole family would be heading back to Wisconsin for the memorial service, and I was overwhelmingly jealous of the time that they would all spend together, remembering my Grandma and Lake George. I bought some prayer flags on the way out of town, and spent the next several days thinking about my wonderful Grandma Anne as I searched for the perfect spot to let them fly in the wind. I found it, in the Annapurna Sanctuary, between Macchupuchre and Annapurna Basecamps, high on a moraine. The Sanctuary is a magical place - we were up at 4000 meters, which is high, but were surrounded by 360 degrees of peaks that were 3-4000 meters above us. It feels somehow spiritual up there, an outdoor cathedral made of snow-capped peaks. I love it, and I think that Grandma would love it too.