Jade Bear
Promises we make to ourselves
It wasn’t my first cross-country drive. This one I made solo. Entering the Grand Tetons just after dark, I stopped at the first cheap-enough-for-me motel with a diner-type café that looked like it might be a Denny’s when it grew up. At least breakfast would be decent and affordable.
I ate an apple for dinner, accustomed as I was to making sure the car ate before I did. Then I tucked in for the night. Tomorrow would be an early start. I checked the plastic card on the bedside table, noting that the café opened early enough, and turned out the light.
Daybreak found me outdoors, greeting the day as I had for the entirety of my twenty-something grown-up life. “The Grand Tetons,” I whispered to the wind. And, “Medicine Bow Reserve,” to earth, rock and tree. “Thank you for being. Thank you for the wonders you hold.”
The Tetons and Medicine Bow were phrases and destinations long remembered from favorite reads. Wintry vistas, wild horses, and peaks, filled my heart and imagination as the child I had been dreamed of unexplored wilderness. This morning, frigid alpine air wrinkled my nose, making me puff out frosty breaths and tuck my hands under my arms, anxious for the comfort of tea.
Mountain ranges had always entranced me, enfolding me in their quiet embrace, welcoming me home. This…
