This latest adventure brought home again the fact that my idea of a “vacation” is laughably, vastly far off from most people’s. Multiple days with lack of sleep, skipped meals, extremes of cold and heat, untold amounts of dirt on and in everything, up before dawn more mornings than even I’d prefer, marathon vigils of wakefulness and prayer, language barriers, questionably dangerous situations…and mixed in with all of that…discovering the indescribable beauty in people and places you’ve never seen before, finding your physical limits and pushing past them, hilarious sessions of storytelling, the excitement of the unknown, heartwarming connection with strangers I can’t even speak to, finding a sense of home in a new place, the refreshing awareness of every moment that the foreign brings, strengthening bonds of friendship and community, and the exhilarating promise of future adventures. 

Happily, joyfully, gratefully, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  

ochre red earth painting the underbellies of clouds pink
reaches of cottonwood
sighing in the whispering wind
the gentle thunder of a kitten herd punctuating dreams
Jesse Woods crooning
lush stands of lilac
smelling of the soft springs of my childhood
tiny bubbles of fear floating up from the calm deep
I have never become accustomed to being looked at
with such thirst