Today, I was taken aback by this photo that came up in my memories. This photo was taken at the Red Cliff’s Lodge in Moab, UT, in April 2008. The cowboy next to me was a good friend of mine who worked there at the lodge. We went on vacation there for my birthday, and it was also a time for me to come up for air after I had two surgeries in December 2007 to remove a brain tumor. If my memory serves me right, the sweet horse who looks like he’s smelling my hair (I think at one point it felt like he was trying to chew it) might have been named Rebel. I regret I wasn’t able to ride him, but due to my physical state and still recovering from my surgeries, it was best that I didn’t take a chance.
I honestly don’t recognize myself because I was pale and very weak. I felt and looked like a shell of the person I once was. I was still trying to regain my mental and physical faculties, in addition to trying to process what had just transpired over the last four months. But those few days staying at the lodge were an escape from the reality I was in.
How I long for adventures and to visit places I’ve only read about. I can envision what I long to see so much so that I can touch it. That’s how real it appears in my mind. For now, I seek practical ways to escape and find my own peace and serenity by immersing myself in the creative flow of writing, painting, reading, or taking up gardening as a hobby. Whatever it is, I will continue to force myself to dive in headfirst because that’s where the magic lies, and I come alive.
The World of Dlo 