Listen to “Mothers Have It Hardest” Dirtbag Diaries Podcast Episode

“I remember really quickly going from, ‘Wow, I’m home, this feels great’, to ‘Holy s***, what did I do to my mom’?” says alpinist Kyle Dempster. “And that was the first time I saw how truly difficult it is for mothers.”

Today, we bring you two stories—one from Hilary Oliver, and one from Kyle Dempster and his mother, Terry—about the struggle of loving an adventurer. The struggle between loving them so much that you don’t want to see them hurt, and loving them so much that you want to support them in pursuing their dreams—in doing the things that make them tick.

This story was originally inspired by one of Kyle’s blog posts by the same title. You can find more of Kyle’s writing at Through My Eyes.

You can find Hilary’s writing at TheGription.

Listen to “Mothers Have it Hardest” by The Dirtbag Diaries on Soundcloud.

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Graphic by Walker Cahall