Since June it seems one trip has melted into another and then into another, until it’s almost one continuous blur. This is an attempt to get caught up on some of my life happenings in 2012.
July 5 – July 15, 2012 (Utah)
At the beginning of July I took a wonderful, but brief visit
to Utah. Whenever I return to the West I feel a deep sense of peace, almost like a deep spiritual sigh, a relaxing
of my inner self. The day I arrived it was raining, a welcomed
relief from the smoky haze of nearby fires and the shimmering heat of a Utah
summer. When I stepped out of the
airport I breathed in the fresh, sweet, aromatic scent of wild sage and wet
soil that at first I mistook as cinnamon and cloves, which in turn evoked a
strong, impulsive desire to bake cookies.
As the Bohn women can attest we all have this same, deeply engrained
impulse, caused by an upbringing of baking whenever it rained. I always
associate rain with spices, homemade baked goods and a cozy kitchen. I had forgotten how
fragrant and delicious the Utah desert smells in the rain and how bright the
mountains glisten and grow green before one’s eyes.
I was only there a week, so we took it easy. I went hiking with mom and Cindy nearly every
morning. Their dogged discipline sometimes
out did me, but I hiked each of their favorite trails at least once. One morning Cindy indulged me by allowing us
to go all the way to Elephant Rock up Mueller Park. It was a lush, green hike through pine trees
and flourishing scrub oak. Despite the
rain a few days earlier the valley was again filling up with smoke from many
nearby fires, even more than before. We could smell and taste the smoke in the air we
breathed. One side note, mom and Cindy look amazing!! Both of them have become svelte, sexy mamas. They both have made amazing and inspiring strides.
One of the reasons I planned my trip to Utah in July was so
I could attend my 20th (gulp!) high school reunion held at a lodge
in Deer Valley. Cindy sweetly came with
me as my moral support. The day of the
reunion we left Bountiful early to have time to meander through the Park City
shops and settle into our room. We also
wanted to explore the old, historic grave yard we used to visit long ago, when
it was over grown and mysteriously hidden in the hills. Since then the community has painstakingly
groomed and restored the cemetery, but we sadly couldn’t go in to see it. Oddly, a child had died there the week before,
crushed by a falling tomb stone, so the cemetery was closed for further
investigation.
The reunion was fine, nothing to write home about (ha ha,
even though I am). I saw a few people I was
interested to see and had superficial and semi-satisfying conversations. I had hoped to talk with Cheyenne, but after
her initial warmth and happiness to see me, she kept a wide berth. No longer being in high school myself, I
wasn’t interested in the hide and seek game so didn’t pursue any further
conversations or catch up time. People were mostly nice.
We were all in the same situation; none of us quite remembered the
details of each other. We could recall
faces, but not always the memories of how we knew them and what we thought of
them when in high school. We all tentatively asked names and caught up briefly. I didn't have a massive amount of friends in high school, mostly superficial acquaintances so conversations weren't exactly deeply heart felt, which was to be expected.
After a few
hours I noticed those clicks that had been together in high school sought out,
found, and clustered together, catching up no doubt, but it struck me as
funny. The majority of people had stayed
in Utah and a large number of them had stayed friends and knew each other
well. A few people I spoke to were the
same squirrely, nervous and awkward people they’d been 20 years ago, others were
outgoing, confident and self possessed, but as they were as children and teens they
still were in adulthood. Then of course there were the aloof,
indifferent and seemingly self inflated (which I interpreted as severely
insecure) people. I felt myself reflect
some of my high school persona. I was
friendly, observant, a little withholding, un-invested, indifferent and content
to leave once it was done. It was an
interesting study in human development and introspection. I did see one really good
guy friend who always was such a sweet guy to me. He and I had a great time catching up and
hearing about where life took each of us. It was also fabulous having Cindy there. She looked amazing to boot!
Overall it was fun, but something I’ll never need to repeat.
The next day Cindy and I stumbled upon a small farmers
market on the backside on Park City Main Street.
I had fun trying the cherries and different
jams and other samples. The woman
selling the jams had a Master’s Degree in Folk Lore, along with her husband,
but they started a business of making jams and cheeses. It was really fun talking with her. You don’t encounter many creative, vagabond
types along the East Coast. We also
quickly stopped into the “Park Silly” market on the lower half of Main Street
before we met up with mom.
Cindy and mom
had wanted me to experience the 5 course brunch at the “Blue Boar” in Heber,
which is where we headed next. It was so
delicious and wonderful! We had a blast! The whole visit was wonderful. It felt very cathartic and relaxing. It was a beautiful overcast day. We had a ball!
