I was so thirsty.  So tired I cried as I trekked through the hot sand that seemed nothing less than an insult at the time.  We’d hiked nine miles into the Canyon and had just one mile to go but it felt like another 10.

Worse yet, I could actually *hear* the water.  Taunting and teasing me.  Letting me know it was right there, just out of reach.

I sobbed and stumbled.  He grabbed my hand and walked alongside me, pulling me to the finish line.  I was tired.  I was done.  I didn’t want to do this anymore.  But there was no other way than forward and he was right there with me.

So along we trudged, until we caught sight of this.  In the desert.  In an instant, our skin was saturated with moist air.  Our eyes delighted with sight and our ears blaring with the roar of Mother Nature in her rawest beauty.

We’d known it was there all along and yet it still came as a glorious surprise.

Much like life, I suppose.

Trudging, trekking, hoping, waiting, discovering. journeying.

To the finish line.

 

 

Havasu Grand Canyon 2007