Bonds Formed In Utah

A few days before we crossed the Utah border, I was messaging my mother in law Kathy.  She said they had been to Arches National Park previously and had said how beautiful it was. So as a passing thought, I figured we will have to drive through before we head toward the warm weather in Mesa.  Little did I know how this place would facinate us. We crossed the border in the late afternoon and stopped at a scenic overlook that gave us a glimpse of the beauty we were going to witness over the next few days.

As we pulled into Moab it was starting to get dark so we were not able to really see a lot of the landscape. The next day we woke up and checked out of our hotel because we planned on hitting the road after we drove through Arches.  We were thinking we would do it in an hour or so. We stopped at the visitors center to pay our fee and the very friendly Park Ranger gave us some detailed instructions on what areas of the park were accessible with a wheelchair. He told us it was an 18 mile road up and back through the park and it would take us about 2-3 hours. On we drove and it was not long before I was pulling over at just about every viewing area. We were absolutely captivated by the arches and geological formations. As it turned out, it took us about 4 hours to just drive through the park taking time time to snap pictures. There were areas accessible by wheelchair, however even though it was a nice sunny day, the wind was sharp. After we were were finished, the dogs let it be known that they had already logged their daily quota for truck hours and wanted out. We decided to spend another night in Moab.

While I was in town that night I shared our experience with one of the locals. He suggested that before we left town to visit Dead Horse Point State Park. The story of the name is really sad, however the beauty is nothing less than spectacular. Due to the time of year there were very few people there which allowed us to really soak in our surroundings.  As we were enjoying the view, I recognized Laurie and Kathleen that I met at the same place as the gentleman that suggested we visit here.  The night before I had the chance to briefly share our story with them. This day they had the opportunity to meet Colleen. We shared a little more of our story and passed our blog to them. A day or two later, Laurie reached out to us. We had an immediate connection and have kept in touch sharing our life experiences with each other since.

This stop on our journey was a very good life lesson for us. At this point we still have a lot of details that are still open. Our house is still on the market without a serious buyer in sight. The completion date on our rig has been pushed back so we do not know exactly when we will be able to pick it up. In a couple of weeks my employment will be officially ending adding to the uncertainty. Despite all of this happening, when we were visiting these magnificent places we were completely 100% present. It was almost as if time stood still and these other circumstances did not exist. We were simply captivated by this natural beauty. Another blessing was making the connection with Laurie. She has offered words of encouragement exactly at the time we needed them. Is it odd or is it God?

The minutia of life will always be there. We have a choice in how we will respond. We are finding what truly brings us joy today is simple and is right in front of our eyes. Beautiful developments have taken place in our life without us needing to attempt to manipulate the conditions. We believe this will continue to occur if we are simply conscious of the possibilities, remain teachable and are openminded.