“About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all.” - Rita Mae Brown

Every time I hear the X&Y album by Coldplay, I remember traveling through England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Ten years ago, my sister and I spent all of our babysitting savings on roundtrip tickets to London, England. Yes, changing all of those diapers was suddenly worth it.

I remember sitting on a bus with my sister, sharing earbuds to a CD player with X&Y on repeat. The plaintive rhythms seemed to echo what I drank in with my eyes – the rugged intensity of verdant hills and cliffs, pierced by rocks, and shrouded by delicate, changeful fog. I felt I could not look hard enough, for scenes of such beauty would suddenly slip into another world of white, reminding me of Brigadoon.

Every time the bus stopped, my sister and I hopped out and explored the nearby hiking trails. The most amazing hiking trail we ever found was near Loch Lomond. The trail head was hidden behind an old fence post, and the forest was thick and solemn. We followed the trail up a steep hill until we saw that we were actually on the side of a mountain. Looking down, we could see pure blue lake waters sparkling boldly in the thin sunshine. An ancient, gnarled tree beside me looked like a protector of the forest.

When we traveled to Ireland, I remember hiking around a lake in Killarney. It started to rain, but the rain was soft and warm. My sister and I sang in harmony as we skipped rocks across the rain-dappled lake waters. I still remember the sound of the rain patting the leaves around us. What music!

In Wales, near Colwyn Bay, as soon as we stepped off the road, we found an old stone fort. A trail went through a sheep pasture, and the sheep baa’d as we walked by. Looking down, we could see the shoreline. It looked so small, and I felt like a giant above everything. The green was so green that it didn’t seem real. This is why green is my favorite color.

The gardens around Blarney Castle were magical, too, with “Wishing Steps” that you must walk down backwards while making a wish in order for it to come true. I almost wasted my wish wishing I wouldn’t fall while making my wish.

In Edinburgh, hidden down a narrow cobblestone street, we found an old cemetery. It was tucked behind a very small stone cathedral, pitted by time and patched with moss. The courtyard was sitting on the edge of a steep hill. Beautiful, heartbreaking epitaphs, worn by the elements, made me wonder about my place in this world.

I remember looking around and thinking - this is what has been seen by so many eyes over so many years. The land connects us to a time before and a time beyond ourselves. How is it that a place can touch a soul indelibly? Everyone has stories and dreams and longings and hurts, and all of them are thrown into relief when faced with an every-changing sky, an untamable land, a teasing wind. Before such beauty, it is so easy to unfurl the soul and yet become transfixed - everything you ever knew or felt or desired is suddenly thrown into that great canvas before you, and you can look at your thoughts as you stand in that wind, in that place, and just wonder at that beauty, and know that you are here, looking, as others have looked (and will look when you are gone).

In closing, there is nothing like a landscape that looks like a patchwork of green delight, and for this, I will always love Aberdeenshire and Inverness the most.