THE BEGINNINGS OF
AN ADVENTURE

Arches National Park

. April 17 2018 .

My hair is still tangled from the harsh, salt-wash winds of this desert. My cheeks are stained red, the tops of my toes sun-kissed. I dreamt of these first few days for months - when we would take off, leaving everything behind to start anew. I pictured it while I worked in the small seamstress workshop in Colorado. But the reality was so very different… so much more.

:☆:

Flurries and storms in the night, desert dawns and waiting to watch the stars fill a new-moon sky. Rekindled partnership with my love, whom I had not spent so much time with since who knows when! Laughter (so much of it) and silliness ensued! Dancing, and movie quotes, and jokes and his crazy penchant for chips. I never thought I would spend that first afternoon on the road sleeping - tucked away in our van, under a towering wave of sandstone, not caring, nor worried, just letting myself be moved by my own body’s rhythms; I feel I am slowly dipping my feet into this wide world again!

sandy toes and stolen kisses
our slightly messy nest
of a bed
and so many peanut butter sandwiches
. . . we don’t have much

but you tell me not to worry
reminding me we have the road, the stars
and each other

let this be our little forever.

☆

EXCERPTS FROM MY DIARY:

Yesterday we left our old life behind. I have learned so much in the past year of being stationary, and I will be forever grateful for that time. But the winds began to blow strongly, and spring was in the air, and my heart belongs to other places. So we left, with only $2000 in our pockets.

The wind followed us, haunting, creaking, shaking our little yellow van. As I write this, tiny granules of sand scatter across the pages. The sun is setting and we are huddled together, soaking in the last of the day’s warmth, waiting for the stars.

We ate oatmeal in the carpark, and shared cups of chai tea in our little enamel animal-print mugs. Shivering in the wind chill, and basking in sunlit moments between rushing clouds.

Sleepy nesting moments, dozing in the van above the covers. Stolen kisses. Total freedom.

🌵🌵🌵