Old Man Lunch Goes to Moab

A few weeks ago, I took a trip with a gaggle of some of my high school buddies to Moab, Utah-some of whom I had not seen in many years.

Old Man Lunch in Moab with friends

This trip was initiated by Mark who seems to provide a great deal of motivation these days to bring old friends together.

Some of that motivation has to do with my Alzheimer’s diagnosis and some with just the simple exercise of getting wild and wooly (and somewhat intoxicated) in the desert landscapes of towering red rocks that dwarf mortal beings.

It was BIG there, and I felt the wholeness that wide expanse offers, and recognized that wilderness, really any wilderness, opens me up like a fresh cantaloupe and brings my body and mind into focus.

 In these habitats I can feel the thrum of energy and life and can forget for long moments that I am slowly sliding down a path of loss and disability. This kind of forgetting offers my mind and body and soul a brief reprieve from despair and injects energy, hope, love, compassion, and direction- even when, or especially when, I have no idea where I am going.