Lost in the forest

I recently visited Yosemite for the first time. One of my best friends lives in California, and while I am grateful to him for many reasons, him taking me to national parks is definitely one of them. There is a lot of beauty in this country that I have never witnessed, and only in the past few years have I been able to catch up a bit. For this I like to blame my parents for never taking me to a national park as a kid as well as my geographic and financial circumstances. Since meeting in person a few years ago, my friend and I have managed to visit three national parks together. Only a few days prior to the drive to Yosemite, my friend received a 3 AM friend breakup text. I could tell how devastated he was, losing a pair of his closest college friends. I actually don't think I had seen him so shaken up before. We chatted a lot about it, and I was glad that he was already working on coming to terms with things in a healthy way. Essentially, it was probably for the better for everyone.…