The desert is not the barren desolate place some people would have you believe. It can be quite the opposite actually. I love the desert. It's peaceful, tranquil, inviting and it teams with life. My travels find me in the deserts of the American West quite often. Whenever possible I stop to take in the scenery and walk about it. The desert inhabitants are survivors. It's a hard life there. The unknowing and unpredictability of life in the desert reminds me of just how fragile we really are. I also love the desert because like it, I am a survivor.

I have had to adapt, overcome and even improvise to maintain. Like a plant adapts and colors its leaves to attract insects while simultaneously sending out pungent odors that repel would be attackers. Humans are capable of this as well. Improvising that is. Not that I set out to create pungent odors, but after a days work in the garden I am quite sure I could repel any attackers!

This past week I stopped and walked for a very long time. After several hours of taking in the beauty that is the Arizona desert, I realized I had walked some ten miles from where I had parked. I stood there on that hill overlooking the interstate, and stood in awe. For a brief moment I considered just continuing to walk, to walk on into the desert and never turning back. I might be on the news for one night, and on the minds of several close friends for a while, and yes, missed by my family I am sure, but the thought was still there. The freedom of release. The freedom of solitude. Just the cactus, sand and the sky. I could be happy there, just it and I. One thinks strange things in the desert. I think I could sit watch the birds, the Saguaro, Cholla and the sky slowly rotate until I was no more.

Good Night DiaryLand!

with love,

tim