Jessica Wandering

With the huge anti-LGBTQI+ political organizing coming out of here since at least the early 90’s, I have never been much inclined to show my super-gay self with my super queer wife in this town. But… it is really really beautiful here. The amount of red rock peeking through the trees and bushes in the middle of a sizable city is remarkable. And the riding areas are so accessible from town and just gorgeous. Again I am floored by the lack of fees charged for open spaces here.

Yes, that cloud behind the fin at the end is very ominous. I completely thought we’d get dumped on at the end but it missed us and blew away. Weather here is hyper local. We had a scary drive home some hours later in the dark. One minute I can barely see the lines on the road, the next it’s dry ground, the next total downpour again. This time with lightning!

This may have been the prettiest ride we have done. So much variation in terrain and view. It was also cloudy so the pictures don’t do it justice.

And we got to spend one last evening with Kristin! In the midst of her clinical experience down here she spent her evening with us.

The Sunday I went back to Quaker Meeting

I haven’t been to Quaker meeting since the Sunday after September 11, 2001. I just never felt comfortable in the Seattle Meeting. I decided that Denver’s Meeting is in the same yearly meeting (the 4-corners states gather for a week every year and we would go throughout my childhood) as SLC so I should try it.

Quakers are so kind. We felt very welcome and meeting was centering and grounding. They have a lovely window with light through the leaves to watch during silence. Four different people spoke, which is much more than my childhood meeting. I cried several times, missing my mom. Grateful she raised me as she did. Several people came to talk to us after, only a couple remembered me or my mother but that’s ok. They were interested and thoughtful people.

Penny Thron-Weber was so kind, and still does the same bun with her hair she did when I knew her. Then she actually invited us for Sunday family dinner with her family. I remember her as having a snuggly carrier with a baby at yearly meeting, and I ate with that kid and her two kids! Her younger brother, Raji, was a Young Friend for a while with me, but she is ten years older than him.

I felt so honored and also so at home. The sense of inclusion that is not just hospitality, but is a spiritual practice is one of the best things about Quakerism. “There is that of God in every person” means not just being kind but being interested and taking time to see what others have to teach us or to add to our lives. My mom would often invite folks over if they were traveling through town or just trying out meeting. That sense of inclusion means a lot to me.

And in addition to all this it was harvest time for their big garden! Potatoes, beets, tomatoes 3 ways, onion, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant were all fresh picked. And the pears for a pear piñon tart as well, not pictured above. I left well fed physically and spiritually.

I really enjoy not planning my days and not having so much on the to do list all the time. I’m getting so much sleep and I haven’t gotten bored of that yet. I really love staying in bed a while after waking up and just letting the brain wake slowly without the stress of the things to do and places to be. I pet the cat, I drink tea, simple joys are the best sometimes.

It’s interesting to see how full a day can seem with not much “checked off” on any list by the end of the day. But the things I often don’t put in my list at home are the things I am doing, and really they are the things I value most: I connected with my partner. I got out in nature. I moved my body and got in a flow state with my mind.

I do find myself playing on my phone a fair amount. I hope that gets more boring soon. It is so decadent to just not have something else I “should” be doing. It’s so nice to allow myself to waste time if I want. It’s nice to not beat myself up about it and just observe and know it will get boring at some point and I’ll do something else.

I wonder if I’ll get to a place where I want to feel productive anytime soon. At 2 weeks, this is still the length of a vacation I would take. I wonder how I will or won’t change in how I spend my time as I get lengthy time off of work and out of my usual environment.

I wonder how well my body will hold up. I’ve sprained my ankle, been stung by a wasp, and crashed hard on my bike with strains and scrapes. It’s only been two weeks! I hope things come in threes and I get a stretch of just having my normal 50 year old healthy body to work with and build stronger.