Mountains and Earthquakes

"Now, every time I witness a strong person, I want to know: What dark did you conquer in your story? Mountains do not rise without earthquakes." -Katherine Mackenett

This poem resonated deeply with Leah when she first stumbled upon it. We immediately knew that this belonged on a card that could be sent during times of tumult to affirm, lift up, and encourage.

It took some research to find out how to contact the author, but we finally found Katherine's small website. We sent a request through the contact form, then crossed our fingers.

Eventually, a long, beautiful email arrived in our inbox. Katherine explained how moved she was that this quote had resonated with us and taken on a life of its own (maybe you've seen if floating around Instagram or Pinterest - it's a popular one right now). She told us how both she and her father had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer a few months prior and that this poem - that she had written before the illness - kept winding its way back to her.

Her only request was that we might share a copy of the card with her after they went into print.

We found out that she died three weeks later.

While we never met her in person, we hope we did her open-hearted and generous spirit justice. Katherine, this one's for you.