I've Got Some Words

It hasn’t escaped me that we’re very lucky to be gallivanting across the US, poking our nose into every nook and cranny and national park, and I’m seriously grateful for the opportunity.

We stopped in Tombstone, AZ and had a corny picture taken in old West clothing – it was a touristy clichéd thing to do, but for the princely sum of $39.95 we got a cool memento and a glimpse of who we might have been in the Wild West days. Conclusion:  Patrick would have been a total bad hat and I suspect I might have been the happy dance-hall piano-playing girl. We walked the streets in the 114 degree heat, browsed the shops, posed with the gunfight actors, Patrick bought me a necklace to commemorate our 5-month anniversary (he’s French…what can I say?) and I was super grateful to be with a man who is kind and considerate and thoughtful…..and smart enough to buy Le Bus with powerful air conditioning. 

 At Phoenix we met my friend Annette for dinner. We’ve been friends for 25 years and apparently our souls were BFFs in another life because from the moment we met we clicked. I love her because she has a gift for seeing right into a person’s soul… and she didn't run after looking into mine.  She loves me because I use correct grammar. (It's very important to her.)

We made silly fools of  ourselves screaming and hugging in the Costa Vida restaurant and then talked for hours until Patrick started pretending he didn’t speak English anymore. We were not deterred – we met the next morning for breakfast so we could have a pancake as big as a wagon wheel and then tearfully said goodbye.

I’m grateful for friends, technology that lets us text in the wee hours and send pictures of our lives, and this woman who taught me what real strength looks like.

We took a couple of days and lounged at the pool, did laundry, saw a movie, watched a sandstorm blow up, and watched some fireworks on the 4^th and I was grateful for America and freedom and the people who serve and protect it, and the opportunity we have to see as much of it as we want.

While driving in the middle of nowhere, Patrick said, “Mmmm…you know what I want? Some Indian fry bread.”  (If you don’t know what this is, it’s a yeast dough that gets stretched, deep fried, and then drenched in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar or honey.)  Five minutes later he pulled off the road, drove down a deserted street and there in front of us was a roadside stand selling fry bread.  I’m grateful for Google  (and I can’t believe he actually found it that way…)

We stopped at Williams, AZ just outside the Grand Canyon and went to Bearizona. First of all – I love the name - how clever is that? BEARIZONA. 

You drive through several acres in your car and see bears, elk, deer, wolves, buffalo, and more from the comfort of your front seat, and then walk through a habitat with smaller animals like otter, badgers, beavers, and best of all – 4 baby bear cubs that were hilariously chewing on each other's ears and climbing and falling out of trees.

It made me grateful for the people who devote their lives to rescuing animals and ensuring we don’t contribute to their extinction. Also…grateful for big metal cars with locks.

Picked up fresh tomatoes from a farm-stand for dinner and grateful for the miracle of vegetables that comes from seed, some dirt and sunshine.

We finally made it to the Grand Canyon and here’s the thing…. I’m a writer and I know some words. Patrick knows words in another language so between the two of us...? We've got a lot of words. 

And here are the words we have said over and over in the last couple of days.

“Wow.” 

“Holy Cow.”

“Oh my heck.”

“Wow.”

Oh yeah….we also said…”Look at that” and “Can you believe it?”

Sadly, the pictures don't begin to do it justice and it makes me want to invite ya'll over for dinner and then force you to look at 14,536 pictures projected on a big screen so you could really appreciate the grandeur. YOU should be grateful I'm probably a couple thousand miles away from most of you.

And after much reflection I still don’t have any better words.

Except these:

We live in a land where people and our government made it a priority to preserve such marvels for everyone to see and appreciate. Grateful.

Seeing the landscape change from desert cactus to towering pines to windswept red rocks and bleached white sand dunes will challenge anyone to doubt that a creator’s hand shaped and planned the universe. Grateful.

And I (Patrick) is very grateful to have met Tanya.