I’d Rather Watch An Arizona Sunset

What a shock to drive from Las Cruces, NM where it was 30° yesterday morning to Casa Grande, AZ where it was 82° at 4 pm yesterday afternoon!  I’m not complaining.  I’m rejoicing with my “shorts” on! 

Every place we pass by or through reminds me of someone I know or once knew, making that place a sacred place.  For example, driving through El Paso, TX I think of my beautiful friend Alma.  Spending the night in Las Cruces reminds me of my friend Palmer.  Driving through Deming, NM I think of my brother, John, and his wife, Reola, who have often camped at the Rock Hound State Park there.  (My brother has become a rockhound in his later years).  Driving through Tucson I think of Marla (our daughter-in-law’s mother) who lives there and my memories recall Luke and Kim’s wedding held there some years ago.  I also think of my favorite author, Harold Bell Wright, who lived in Tucson back in the early 20th century and where some streets are still named after characters from his novels.  And when I drive through the Sonoran desert I sense an unknown Presence, a calling Voice, a mystery that seems to embrace me and our world as I drive along.  

Here in Casa Grande we are only a one-day drive from Flagstaff where Luke and Kim, along with our youngest grandchildren, Ethan and Eleni, live.  We plan to visit with them on our return trip, but there is a strong sentiment within me at the moment to just drive on up that way today.  How I miss them!

But we won’t go to Flagstaff today.  Instead I’ll drive south to Organ Pipe Cactus National Park where the temperature is to be in the mid-eighties and where we will spend a day of rest “off” the road tomorrow after ten days “on” the road.  

Tonight there will be a “State of the Union Address.”  I will not be able to listen to the President describe what he sees and what he thinks about America because there will be no TV, Cell or WiFi connections at the park where we will be staying.  Perhaps the lack of such connections will be good for my mind, body and soul.  Instead of watching the State of the Union,  I’ll watch an Arizona sunset.  My father loved the Arizona sunsets and at 80 years of age told me his only desire was to see one more Arizona sunset.  “Well, Dad, we’ll watch that Arizona sunset these next two nights together.” Every place is a sacred place.

Mom & Dad finally found time to
get on the road after raising seven
children. I'm so grateful they were able to
experience an Arizona sunset or two!