Standing Beside the Salt Lake

Day 5 - Traveling through Three States - Wyoming, Utah and Nevada

    We are fortunate to have the photo above because of a wonderful stranger who saw us trying to take our own photo and offered to help.  Not only did she take this great shot, but she suggested I might like to take a panoramic shot of the mountains.  "I don't have a panorama feature on my phone," I told her.  "But you do, she said and proceeded to show me how to use it.  Thus I was able to get the next shot which is one of my favorites of the day.

The Mountains behind Salt Lake

   Once again we were blessed by a stranger.  I am beginning to think there is no such thing as strangers - they are only friends we have yet to meet.  I heard that somewhere, but forgive me because I can't remember where!  

  

   At this same place where we stopped to take photos and enjoy the beauty all around us, I also saw a sign on the bathroom door.  It read, "Please wipe your feet on the rug if you have been walking in the salt."  Now I found this both amusing and pleasing.  I mean, really now, who wipes off their feet at a public rest stop these days???? We are lucky if we get our family members to wipe them off at home, much less a public restroom!  So I had to see if this was for real. Sure enough, as I stood washing my hands for a very long time, every woman or child who came in that restroom, stopped and wiped their shoes on the old piece of rug that was there!  Daryl said the men's room had the same sign there!

  Oh if we could only teach the whole world some common courtesies I believe we would have less violence and less stress.  Even as we were driving some people just had to pass in front of me and then slow down or flash their lights if I wasn't going fast enough.  Daryl reminded me of something he has started to do when he is tempted to get frustrated with drivers who think they own the road all to themselves.  he tries to remember they are God's child too.  So when I am tempted to yell, "IDIOT!"  I will try to remember they are a child of God too."  I will admit that it did help and I found myself laughing our loud as I was tempted to become impatient.  I mean after all, we had only driven some 2500 miles and still have a few more to go.  Why hurry?  Stop and smell the Lake Salts!  

    But getting back to the courtesy idea, it reminds me of Daryl and I walking in Chicago on Thursday as we went to see the play.  He always walked to the side of me so he was nearest the street. "I love how you protect me," I told him.  "You know," he said, "I learned these courtesies as a teenager and I have never forgotten them."  

   As for me, I know I'm from the South and some may say it is my naive upbringing, but I love when a gentleman opens the door for me or gives up his seat on a crowded bus.  We learned to always stand when someone enters the room and reach out to say hello and shake hands.  We remember to give great care to the elderly and let them go first, hold doors for them, offer to carry packages.  I remember as a child that someone always carried my mother's groceries to the car.  Today we are lucky if the cashier even looks at us.  I think the random act of kindness thing was trying to bring some of this back, but what if we were kind every day, all day?  

  On this trip, Daryl and I have been the recipients of many kindnesses.  From waitresses to toll booth collectors; from family to strangers, from hotel clerks to gas station attendants.  Everywhere we went people were kind to us.  Maybe our country is changing after all!

  On a final note, tomorrow we will be arriving in Murphys, California (if the Good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise - that's a saying from my childhood!)  The week has gone by quickly and we are enjoying all the sights and conversations along the way.  In many ways, it is just what I have needed to make the transition from one parish to another, from one state to another, from one home to another.  Daryl and I have reminisced together about the many joys of finding one another in PA, raising a family and now moving on.  There is some sadness in leaving it - not because we dread to go - but because we had so many blessings there.  But the trip has also prepared us for the joy ahead.  We are seeing a different part of the country, meeting new people and folks are laying the welcome mat for us in Murphys.  We try to guess what it will feel like to live there, for me to pastor there, for us to walk down main street and call this town home.  

    It has been good to have this time and space to make the transition.  Our prayer is that you will all know, both those in PA and those in CA that our lives are much the richer because we are sharing or have shared this walk with you.  Joy in the Journey, Pastor Bonnie