[Salt Lake City International Airport, April 18, 2016]
Although I have visited Salt Lake City several times (two precious grandchildren live there; need I say more?), on last week’s trip, I could not get enough of those Rocky Mountains! Again and again I found myself gawking—and since two mountain ranges encircle the city, such open-mouthed opportunities were plentiful. At the zoo, at the Natural History Museum, at two different soccer fields, at playgrounds—do you detect a pattern, here?—there they were!
Why? Why, now? What is it about souring, snow-capped mountains that so deeply spoke to me? Whose spiritual life is, generally, inward. A couple of thoughts:
I think I was thirsty for an overpowering, not-human-scale experience. (I think lots of hemmed-in East Coast people are.) I needed to drink in sheer, magnificent, soul-nourishing Beauty; “Living Water.” And so I did.
And I think I needed to somehow connect with other, live-beyond-Route 128 Americans for whom the sight of a snow-capped mountain or corn fields as far as you can see or the mighty Mississippi or . . . is routine. To try, as best I can, to imagine how such daily sightings might play out in others’ lives; a baby-step spiritual exercise.
And so I am trying.
Dear Patricia,
Hello, there, Patricia, my so, so very For Always dearly special and dearly precious sister and friend who you are For Always so, so very much!!!!!! Sister, wow, wow, wow, and wow and wow and a zillion wows here!!!!! What a very inspiring, uplifting, bright, and so cheerful blog post article this is of yours here which has just greatly brightened and added to my very day, Patricia!!!!!! Yay!!!!! I so enjoy reading with such joy what you are doing, feeling, and thinking, sister, and proves to be so much fun to read, and so, so very interesting as well, sisterfriend!!!!! Yay!!!!!! The title of this brilliant blog post article is just absolutely perfect here, my friend!!!!!! I think of how my very, very strength comes from Spirit, and I think of the verse in the Old Testament(I may be getting the wording a little off target here),” I look to the hills from whence cometh my help. ” My strength also comes from our Spirit’s Beautiful Creation in Nature. I love the sun, pretty white, puffy clouds in the radiantly azure blue sky, the moon and the stars, flowers, trees, leaves, all of the land and water, and in fact All of Nature, and All of our Spirit’s Wondrously Wonderful Creation, sister!!!!!!!! I just so, so very much love and like your mention of blazing golden corn fields being from Iowa the heartland and of corn for all of these almost 26 years!!!!!!!! Sister, I’m just so, so very thrilled, overjoyed, and happy that you were able to visit two of your very special, beloved, and precious grandchildren in Salt Lake City, Utah, Patricia!!!!!! Yay my friend yay!!!!! What a blessed joy they are for sure, sisterfriend!!!!!!! Oh, I so long for seeing the Rocky Mountains again, and Salt Lake City, Utah. I saw the magnificent Rocky Mountains, and Salt Lake City, Utah on a very long summer trip I took the Summer of 1974 when I was twelve the summer before seventh grade, sister. I have dreams of seeing the Rocky Mountains, the Great Plains, California, and the other places which I saw that summer and having the sheer joy and pleasure of seeing those places and traveling a lot again like I did when I was growing up, my friend. Sister, I am like you!!!!!! I, too, gawked at and marveled at the Sheer and Glorious Beauty of what I saw on various trips when I was growing up, Patricia!!!!!! What pleasure it was for certain to feast my eyes on all of the Grand Majesty which our So, So Very Sweet, Loving, Powerful and Good Spirit God has created, sisterfriend!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! Yay for our Spirit, sister!!!!!! Yay for our God!!!!!!!!
Patricia, I so love living in Iowa between the two mighty rivers of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River, sister!!!!! What a great joy and a blessing for sure!!!!!! Patricia, I’m trying like you to as best as I can imagine how such daily sightings might play out in others’ lives. I so long to travel more, so yearning to see New England and other areas of our so, so very special, precious, and beloved country if only I could afford to do so. I did most of my traveling when I was growing up . I’d love to see and visit New England, Patricia! I’ve only been as far east as Stamford, Connecticut in June 1980 right after I graduated from high school, sister. What a joy it would be someday to be able to travel across our beautiful country and world again, Patricia, I do have some great memories from my traveling when I was growing up, though, sister!
Sister, what a such a greatly immense and such a sheer joyous blessing this beautiful blog post article of yours is for certain here, and it made my day even brighter and better, and gave me so much great cheer, Patricia!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! I thank-you so, so much, Patricia!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! Now I feel renewed, re-energized, and rejuvenated in my very day!!!!!! You are my very, very joy and blessing, Patricia, and so are all of your wondrously wonderful blog post articles and other astounding writings, sister!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!! Yay for YOU, Patricia!!!!!! Yay for your remarkable blog post articles and other spectacularly awesome writings!!!!! Yay!!!!!!
Patricia, please have a totally terrific and a very thrilling Thursday, wondrously wonderful rest of your week and weekend, and may all of your days be so, so very especially blessed, my friend!!!!! Wow, do I feel so inspired and uplifted now by YOU, sister, and this very fine and excellent piece of writing!!!!!! Yay, Patricia, yay!!!!!!!
Very Warmly and Sincerely For Always, my so, so very For Always sisterfriend Christian Quaker white woman, Patricia, who you’re For Always so, so very much, with such Peace and Love To You For Always, my sister, and with such Blessings and Even More Blessings To You For Always, my so, so very dearest friend,
Your sisterfriend Christian lesbian black woman For Always in the very spirit and solidarity, Sherry Gordon
Too bad we have to return them .