Just over a week ago, I was driving through Northern New Mexico in a state of constant awe at the incredible beauty surrounding me. It had been a few years since I had last been in that landscape, and part of me had forgotten the stark beauty and magnificence of the red and white rock against the blue sky. The twisting junipers, the pinons, and the ponderosa pines. In my marveling, I was struck by another thought. How once, years ago, when I first moved to New Mexico, I loathed that landscape.
It’s true. I did. I couldn’t stand the vast stretches of desert. It felt unending, bare, merciless and lonely. I remember wondering what had bewitched Georgia O’Keefe to leave New York for that land. How had she fallen so deeply in love with it?
And now here I was, more than a decade later, feeling a deep connection to and love for that landscape. Thinking, to never have known that land would have been a shame.
My musings continued on that drive. Reflecting on the places I’ve lived, the work I’ve done, the things I’ve learned and the people I’ve met thus far in my life. It has been anything but a straight path. So many twists and turns, some chosen, others unexpected. As I thought about every step that had led me again to that landscape, this time with a completely different view, I was deeply grateful. For landing me where I am at this point in my life. And I can only wonder how and where the path will continue to lead, how I and it will all continue to evolve, as I begin yet another chapter and embark on a new adventure with my love in Montana.