~practicing perseverance~

Finally the wind has decided that it is ok, acceptable, the "right thing to do" and has died down.  In fact, save for the somewhat bit of a breeze going on out there it's just pretty dang quiet.  For two days now its incessant presence has taken a whole lot of fun out of being outside on an otherwise nice summer day.  The mountains stayed visible until the late afternoon but once again, just like the day before it, dirt and dust obscured their view for many hours.  How I longed to at least see a nice sunset at the end of the day but that didn't happen either.  Although this is nothing like the days of the Great Dustbowl, thankfully at least not yet, I couldn't help but wonder if this is what it might have looked like for those folks living in the Great Plains states who endured those dark days when dust and dirt were your constant companions, now over 75 years ago.


Good morning friends and family from this place so far away, the Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  From our home here in Montrose County, I send you greetings and hope that truly all will be well for you and for me and for ALL of us this Wednesday morning.  It felt nice to be able to let Sally the dog out for her early morning "break" and to not be blown away by a howling dirt-filled wind.  The leaves of the stately Cottonwood trees that ring the yard around our house are still blowing in the breeze but at least I can make out that what they are instead of seeing just a rapidly moving green blur.  Weather is so unpredictable it would seem and certainly nothing that we have any charge over.  Here in our area the temperatures will dip down into the 30's overnight tomorrow allowing us to wake up a bit on the chilly side.  Last evening on the weather they were even talking about winter storm watches/warnings for the mountains in Utah.  Up on old Monarch Pass, our friend Norm is camping and readying himself to come down on the other side of the great Continental Divide.  His slumber was probably a bit on the chilly side of it all.  More on Norm in a blog post tomorrow but we continue to wish him well and monitor his progress from here.

I have thought a lot about the subject of perseverance in the past few months and for some reason it remains something that floats just at the surface of my thinking most days lately.  It has now been well over 13 months that I have made the great state of Colorado my home and believe me when I tell you I had to practice some pretty seriously big-time perseverance to make it here in this strange land.  It felt like I was lain across God's anvil on a nearly daily basis, especially at first as I did my best to figure out that it was "ok" to leave Kansas and life there as I made a "new life" here with Mike.  Homesickness, loneliness, discouragement and a thousand other things did their level best to try and take me down, to force me to throw in the towel and say "I quit."  Try as they might, it just didn't happen.  Every hardship that I encountered seemed to be outweighed by a dozen good things that arrived to take its place.  The end result, now many weeks and months later, is a new found strength that I didn't even realize was there.  Shoot, I didn't have any idea that I was this strong :)

This summer I am working as a CNA, providing services to folks in their homes.  These people desperately desire to stay out of long-term nursing home care and they are practicing the art of perseverance each and every day.  It isn't easy for them and each would be the first to say that perhaps giving up might be easier in the long run.  Yet they choose to not succumb to the challenges that life presents them now in their advancing years.  I admire them.  Each of them.  All of them.  When I finish growing up, I hope that I can remember their good examples of independent living no matter how difficult the challenges of everyday living may be.  I love taking care of them, people who in their own ways have become like heroes to me. 

The day is soon to begin here and only the good Lord above knows how it all will play out for us.  Will we be called to practice the fine art of perseverance?  More than likely it would seem.  Over the years many famous quotes have been given on the subject of not giving in, no matter how long it might take to do something.  One I came across is from J. R. R. Tolkien from the classic read The Hobbit.  Eleven short, sweet, and simple words~

"So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending."

Speaking as one who has had to slay at least a gazillion dragons in 58 years of living, it pays to persevere.  May your day be well my friends and may the journey of this day be one filled with peace, love, hope, and understanding.

The view from deep inside of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison a few weekends back.  The early day pioneers and settlers here in this area had to be pretty determined to make Colorado their home.  Talk about having to practice the fine art of perseverance.

At the bottom of the Black Canyon very near to our home here in Montrose, stopping to take our photo.  I would have made a horribly poor specimen of a pioneer wife back 125 years ago yet I do consider myself a pioneer woman of sorts this day in 2014.  It's all in how you look at it, I suppose.  All in how you look at it.