Sojourn

Friends,
I’m now back home after a 10 day trip through the southwest and the national parks of Arizona and Utah, and ending up for a day in Las Vegas. Few trips could offer more contrast to my life here on Whidbey Island in the Pacific Northwest so the whole trip was a source of surprise. I was able to make the trip because my son Richard did most of the planning and all of the driving. And it is more satisfying to share a wondrous travel experience that also provides ample time for conversation and reflection with a son. And it was also important that we had the blessing and support of Cathy.

I live in a world of tall trees, open water and snow-capped mountains. The Southwest is a world of big sky and massive, colorful rock walls with an endless array of changing geological configurations. I can’t come close to adequately describe their appearance or the emotion they elicited, but the closest I can come is that I could hardly behold the sense of grandeur and awe of it all without smiling and giggling a repeated, compulsive “wow!” Mountains are often impressive and humbling to the spirit. Looking straight up at ancient rock interfaces, I feel so small. The permanence of the mountains, however, also offers a powerful reassurance about the stability of life compared to all that now seems to vulnerable and shaky.

What I marveled most about was that my eyes and soul could at least try to take in what was surrounding me. Life became simultaneously smaller and much larger, a stretch for my limited capacity for comprehension of so much of the Mystery of life. I will try to hold the stretch of soulful expansiveness that I experienced in our southwestern national parks for the rest of my life.

From the open skies and grandiosity of natural beauty of the Southwest mountains and high desert, we spent a final day in Las Vegas before we flew home. Las Vegas became a final leg of contrasts from my parochial life here on Whidbey. Las Vegas is a fascinating attempt to materialize human hubris in the creation of a world of make-believe and a fantasy to achieve success in life through the gamble of chance. It is also its own wonderland, a playground for at least one of our most basic desires for distractive excitement and a reprieve from reality. Although the culture and ethos of Vegas is so contrary to my Quaker belief and lifestyle, there was something very human about the gambling world of flashing and blinking lights. I found myself, not so much judgmental to the whole scene, but being quietly amused by the poignancy of every day people motivated with the thrill of “winning” and success in their otherwise daily lives.

The sojourn satisfied my two primary hopes for the trip. I had precious time for my son and I to fill in our lives of both my parental intimacy and care over all these years with sometimes forgotten or unknown stories and memories that are difficult to share during the years of his childrearing and vocational responsibilities. I am pleased we were able to better connect all the emotional and highlights of our lives. Somewhat ironically, just as I cared for him all those years, here I am, as my son says, now needing a good deal of “tending” as I navigated trails and keeping oriented to an ever-changing environment.

And I have also been able to fulfill a wish to provide my now well-worn and well-traveled aging body and soul with one more magnificent opportunity to experience the Grand Mystery of Life. How was all this created? What is its fate for the future? What has been my tiny bit part in it all? What have I learned compared to all I cannot comprehend - and does it really matter? Is it enough to stand in awe and presence to it all and give profound gratitude for being conscience to the majestic wonder of the mountains to the gambling halls of Las Vegas?  

May your lives, young and old, continue to be ever present and curious to the world you have miraculously been born into.

Blessings and peace,
Tom