For this month’s flash essay contest—inspired by Angie Chuang’s Personals piece, “How a Black-Market IVF Drug Deal Helped Heal My Marriage”—we asked you to tell us about a moment in which you found solace in an unexpected place. We got over 100 wonderful submissions and our editors picked Candi Sary’s mini-essay as our favorite.Wearing my headphones, I run to the energizing sound of Brandon Flower’s voice. The Killer’s music fuels my workout and blocks outside noise. Like street traffic. Like lawn mowers and blowers. Like the galloping of the big dog coming at me.I see the dog just in time to react. As a forty-four-year-old woman, I don’t think I can outrun it. I don’t think I can fight it off without getting bitten. Adrenaline hits my bloodstream and I don’t think this is going to end well—until I see the tree.While it’s been decades since I’ve climbed one, I somehow scale it like a squirrel.Perched up high, I catch my breath. Down below, the dog jumps at me. Its paws bounce off the tree trunk over and over, but it can’t reach me.I’m safe.I’m safe!This realization makes me smile, even laugh. People driving by slow down to look at me, but no one stops to help. I don’t appear to be in danger. I look happy, like I’m playing with my dog.Cozying up to a sturdy limb, waiting for the dog to lose interest in me, I find solace in my arboreal sanctuary. And I find unexpected solace in my own strength. I’m approaching fifty. With my youth behind me, I’m supposed to be going downhill. Yet here I am, high in a tree. What if I still have it in me to climb new heights? What if I’m capable of more in this second half of life than I realize?When the dog finally gives up and trots off, I jump down to the ground, landing on my strong legs. My aging spirit invigorated, I run home thinking, “Hey, world, don’t count me out.”PS: Make sure you don’t miss any of our flash essay contests and calls for pitches by subscribing to Narratively Academy, our community for writers and authors.Candi Sary is the author of Magdalena, winner of the 2024 Eric Hoffer Book Award for Fiction, a PenCraft Award, and a Storytrade Award. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two dogs, and several ducks.