I went to visit the wolves again today for the last
time. They were already up howling into
the fading night. Their song sounded as
sad as my heart…it was a fitting goodbye.
I will miss them, and I will miss this place. Maybe if I stayed here long enough, this
place would eventually get old and boring.
But I’m not sure that it would.
And even if it did, I think that time would be a long way off. There is something primal here that tugs at
me; something about the simplistic beauty that calls to my heart. Sometimes I think that humans have overly
complicated things in this life. We have
distracted ourselves from what we were meant to do. I mean it’s funny how the simple things, when
they’re the right things, can be more satisfying…more relaxing and
peaceful…than all the things in the world I had left behind. So, you tell me, which one seems more like
the life I was meant for?
I know that my wife is sad about leaving as well. Usually, she is past ready to be home by this
point, but not this time. We were both
so burned out by our life. We really
needed this vacation, and we’re not really in a rush to get back to what’s
waiting for us. Time away is never long
enough, but we have tried to squeeze every drop of enjoyment out of every day. So, now we pack and head home.
We made the long drive back to Bozeman. As we pass familiar sights, it seems like so
long ago that we were here. The
Riverside Grill slides by on the right.
Buck’s T-4 Lodge whooshes by on the left. So much has happened in the last week. Has it really only been a week?! Wow! In
my mind and memories, it’s been much longer than that.
We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, so
we grabbed a terrible lunch at the only restaurant. After we got boarded, we had a 45-minute
delay before finally taking off.
Apparently, the weight calculation computer was malfunctioning, so they
had to do their measurements by hand. Of
course the delay meant that we didn’t get out of there before the impending
storm struck the area.
It was the…worst…takeoff…I have ever experienced. The turbulence was rough, and the plane was
all over the place…and that was before we had even left the runway! The plane literally felt like it was twisting
and sliding across the runway. When the
pilot finally managed to get off the ground, it was only one wheel at a time,
and the plane was leaning at a dangerous angle to one side. Just after we were wholly in the air, there
were moments when the resistance would cease, and the plane would suddenly
drop. I felt like I was floating for a
second, right before I was free falling out of the sky. The lady next to me had the vomit bag out,
and I started to think that that wasn’t a bad idea. I always said that a bus was going to get me,
I just never thought it was going to be an American Airlines Airbus!
We are finally home.
That word, “home,” carries mixed emotions. I like our home, but right now there is a
symbolism tied to it that I’m not eager to pick back up. It represents the routine, the rut. I will try, like I do after every vacation,
to carry my newfound peace forward into my life. God showed us amazing things on this
vacation, and I can only pray that He’ll continue to show us amazing things now
that we’re back in the city. Or more
that our eyes are open to see the amazing things that I’m sure He’s been
showing us all along. If there’s one
thing I have learned by my time in Yellowstone, it’s this…
Keep your eyes open because there could be something
exciting and amazing around every turn of the road.
