About Mary Ruth Houston

New Heights

It was 2010 and I had rounded the 16th floor of my office staircase, accompanied by a backpack filled with old law books and water bottles. I had 12 months to get ready. My husband had asked how I wanted to celebrate my 50th birthday, and I blurted out: climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Mind you, we hadn’t slept in a tent since college—a trip that ended ignominiously when our poorly erected tent started to collapse.  That trip cemented an avocation for the next 10—I hope more—years. It’s hard …