aunt & uncle

 Have I emphasized enough how nice it is to get visitors from home? It doesn't matter if it's someone I didn't necessarily spend a lot of time with when I was in Forrest, or knew well--it's just that glimpse of a familiar face & sliver of central Illinois that brings a warm rush of affection for them. But these visitors were ones I knew rather well. Holly saw me grow up, made me "gak", put me to work in the garden, separated her daughter and I in church, never batted an eye when I just showed up at their house. She even got me in trouble a time or two:). Always well-deserved, I won't deny that. Larissa & I had some questionable escapades. How long ago it seems! She's going to be a mom soon (eek! Larissa, weren't we just sitting the tub with all our clothes on, bawling our eyes out while our moms laughed over the phone?), and I'm getting married. Holly said as much. They were here to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. I quietly observed a marriage of 30 years from the backseat. And what I saw was, yes, it does just get better, despite my fears to the contrary. It's hard to imagine how it can get any better right now. But I know it will. God is good.

It was fun to spend some time with them in the desert; an adventure. (Stopped in Julian and got some pie first...what? We hiked it off.) We went to the "slots", a canyon hike aptly named. I'd never been there before, and I might've directed Glen into someone's campsite & did some meandering circles in the barren landscape before finding the trail. It isn't a place to get lost; cell phones have no signal, and the roads, and by roads I mean paths in the sand that don't have any particular rhyme or reason of direction, aren't marked. But we did find it. And enjoyed it. There's a beauty in the desolate creamy rock, an awe that plants can survive in such harsh conditions, a hugeness in the blue sky that makes a person feel so very, very small. And it's good to feel small sometimes. To be put back into our place. I'm so glad they came.