Moab 2020

     This story begins 16 years ago when we met my daughter, Emily, and her husband, Jared, at Dead Horse Point. Grandchildren had not arrived on the scene yet but who would have guessed from that time until we meet again in Moab in a few weeks, how much life and the red rocks would change our family forever.

     The following year, my oldest daughter Jill and her 2 children joined in the fun. Now, there were 7 of us. It was decided that all of the family should attend these yearly gatherings in the desert and thus began our annual pilgrimage to red rock.

     I wish I could share with you the photos taken each year as we packed up to return home. Tiny children standing in front of their parents, babies held in loving arms, marking the passage of time.

     In 2018, nineteen of us celebrated the desert. We visited our traditional places like Sand Dune Arch and as we have always done before, we hiked new trails and spent some time off road. In recent years, we've held Milky Way parties...all 19 of us laying on the ground in the dark, staring up at the Milky Way…eating Milky ways.

     Things were different last year. My son’s wife, Sara, was very ill and unable to travel to Moab. Their two daughters traveled with us. My mother was in hospice and we’d arranged for her care while we were away. But life has its way whether we like it or not. We were called back to Salt Lake City because my mother wasn’t expected to live much longer. We left the trailer, the granddaughters and Jill in charge.

     A few days later, as I sat at my mom’s bedside I received a photo of everyone still in Moab…laying on the ground in the dark…staring up at the Milky Way…eating Milky ways. I later learned with each shooting star, someone would say…”There goes Grandma Jacque.” My mom passed away that evening.

     We’ll be in Moab on October 13, 2020…except Sara who passed away in March of this year. I cannot find the words to express what the red desert means to me…to all of us. We are connected spiritually to this place.

     Terry Tempest Williams says it best: “I believe in walking in a landscape of mirages because you learn humility. I believe in living in a land of little water because life is drawn together. And I believe in the gathering of bones as a testament to spirits that have moved on.  If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self. There is no place to hide and so we are found.”

Sara’s voice will be missed this year. Life will still have its way as grandchildren move along in their lives. Our annual trip to red desert will continue to change…but I have the photographs.