When I think back on pre-November 9 it all seems dream-like. That naive assumption that the status quo (Hillary), the semblance of sanity, the known quantity would conquer the day kept me optimistic and unprepared. A personal sense of being untethered and directed by the wind is one thing, having that description applied to our country is a totally new depth of insecurity ranging on panic.
In the more innocent times of the first week in November I rode into Colorado on my blue steed, galloping over the barren flat lands of eastern Colorado to reach the Rockies once again. How I had missed them since Montana and Canada. And suddenly I wasn't camping anymore. Beautiful, warm days in the 70s gave way to cold nights in the 30s. Call me a wuss but the early dark and cold found me searching for cheap hotels and hostels.
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| Hannah and puppy, Juniper. Great training going on with this pup! |
In Boulder I had the wonderful good fortune to stay with Hannah Tirrell-Wysocki for 3 nights. I so wanted and needed to be with someone I knew over election day and night. Turned out to be the ideal spot.
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| Elk chillin' in the fall grasses. |
From Boulder I could go for a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, blithely trusting the universe to arrange itself in an orderly fashion. I don't think I thought about the election until the drive back. I could be in the moment, which is arguably the greatest gift the National Parks offer us- the breathtaking grandeur that supersedes the mundane cares of our scrambling lives.
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| La Poudre Pass Lake- origin of the Colorado River. |
RMNP was marvelously uncrowded in early November. A year ago at that time the Trail Ridge Road through the park had been closed under a foot of snow. This day it was blue, clear and cool, but pretty nearly perfect. The photos tell it best.
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| The humble Colorado River running through Grand Lake, CO |
What will forever stand out for me on election night 2016 was participating in the evening Hannah designed that transcended the shock and anxiety of the national scene. Hannah has a Masters degree from the Naropa Institute in Boulder. Some of her Naropa cohort joined us for soup and bread and conscious conversation. With the growing awareness that the election would result in an outcome other than most of us had assumed, we turned our attention to the larger perspective. Hannah had prepared some questions for each of us to answer, questions like 'how are you feeling right now?', 'what do you have to offer in times like these?', 'what sustains you in times like these?', as I recall. The act of sharing with these thoughtful people took us above and beyond the hub bub of politics to the larger scape of human connection and positive intentionality. It was such a gift. I will hold on to those memories in the weeks to come.
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