Sunnie Cuvelier-Walsh

It’s Never Too Late to Climb Mountains 

Sunnie Cuvelier-Walsh was breathing hard, straining lungs long accustomed to life closer to sea level to power her up to the top of the 14er she and a friend were climbing. The hike was as big a mental challenge as a physical one but what struck Sunnie most when she summitted – beyond the breathtaking views – was the realization that for the first time in years, even in that high altitude air, she could actually breathe. She felt free and safe, and that was a feeling that kept her coming back to Colorado, first to climb more mountains and eventually to build a new life, although that would not happen for years to come. 

Sunnie was born almost as far from the peaks of the Rocky Mountains as you can get, in the gently rolling cornfields of Iowa. Her parents were a pair of teenage farm kids, budding hippies utterly unprepared for parenthood, and her early years were rootless, bouncing from one unstable situation to the next until she was eventually sent to live with her maternal grandparents. Craving the attention her free range childhood lacked, Sunnie became the captain of the cheerleaders and the star of school plays, but it was never enough to fill the void in her home life. She vowed that when it was her turn to raise children, she would do it differently. 

She dreamed of pursuing a career on Broadway, but those plans got derailed in college when she met a boy and, at the age of 21, married him. Sunnie’s husband came from what looked to her like a picture perfect family – parents who still loved one another and adored their three sons, plenty of money to smooth out the bumpier parts of life, and even a white picket fence to complete the image. It wasn’t stardom and standing ovations, but it was steady, and the allure that held was enough for Sunnie to willingly cast her dreams aside and move into a tiny starter home in Carroll, Iowa to begin to build a family. 

Life was good for a while. Sunnie kept up her acting and modeling career on a smaller scale, taking roles in local commercials and running the high school drama program. She went on to launch a successful acting school, a business concept few in her small midwestern town thought could possibly succeed but did, giving a home to many a misfit kid who struggled to fit neatly into their conservative, God fearing, football loving town. 

Sunnie had two boys and then two girls, and as they grew she followed through on the promise she had made to herself about how she would raise them. No matter what challenges and conflicts they faced as a family during the day, she made sure each of her children went to bed knowing that they were loved and accepted unconditionally. 

During those early, busy years it was easy enough to overlook signs of trouble in her marriage. Sunnie’s husband had always been a big drinker, but as the years went on, his drinking became more of a problem. Determined to give her children the stable upbringing she had lacked, Sunnie’s singular focus was shielding her kids from their father’s addiction and the increasingly volatile, abusive behavior that came with it. When life at home became intolerable, she would force her husband into rehab, only to watch him relapse soon after, each time returning with promises that this time it would be different. It never was, but Sunnie kept taking him back until one terrifying Mother’s Day weekend, when it finally became clear that doing so might end their family for good. 

Sunnie’s youngest son was just about to graduate from high school and preparations were underway for the celebration when things took an ugly turn. Following a failed intervention, Sunnie’s husband turned threats into reality and pulled a gun on her. She escaped with minor injuries but knew that the next time, she might not be so lucky. It took eleven months to save up enough money to hire a lawyer, but she did, and two years later, she finalized her divorce. 

Since that time, Sunnie has taken massive strides towards healing. Following a series of panic attacks, she underwent EMDR, a form of therapy used to process and heal from traumatic experiences. She completed her Master’s of Science in Psychology in 2023, a degree she hopes to combine with theatre to use drama and storytelling to help others. Her children, whom she describes as “unique, lovely, interesting and weird” – in other words, everything she hoped they would be – all successfully launched, Sunnie was able to relaunch herself in the place she has always felt most free, in Colorado, where more 14ers await and other mountains, both literal and figurative, stand ready to be climbed. It is never too late to climb mountains.

It is never too late to climb mountains.