Well, after a little weeping over the remains of my computer, I resolved to think of it no more and try to enjoy the rest of my evening at Grand Tetons. Holly and I had planned to meet and drive to a spot we'd picked out to watch the sunset. See, the previous night we had been driving at dusk and glimpsed distant, snow-capped mountains. Believe me, such a thing has become so normal that it wouldn't have elicited a response except that at sunset the snow on the mountains glows pink. Pretty amazing. So we scouted all today to find the best, unobstructed view of the mountain possible: Oxbow Bend (a crazily bendy spot in the river). We were headed there when we came upon probably 15 cars pulled over on either side of the road. We've learned that clusters of cars means wildlife spotting and that the more cars, the cooler the wildlife. Well, for this early in the season, 15 cars means something big! "Moooose!" we cried hopefully, and hopped out of the car. Sure enough, it was a moose and may I just say that they are funny, ugly-faced things. It was a female, so we didn't score antlers, but we did get a photo of Holly in front of the moose that you can see on the photo site. As the moose's grazing took it out of sight, we moved on to Oxbow Bend to watch sunset. It was doubly stunning. Looking West there were glacier-carved peaks silhouetted by the yellow-orange sky of the setting sun. East was the pink snow-capped mountain, pink clouds, and the full moon. All of that is compounded by the fact that we saw it all reflected off the glassy-smooth river. Nice, huh? And as we stood down on the bank with no other humans around, a river otter popped out of the water not 5 feet from us and started friskily swimming and playing. We stood on the bank a distance from each other and watched the otters swim, sending ripples and wake trails through the reflection of the dusky sky. We were well satisfied with our evening and ready to go back to camp when one of the last visitors in the little parking area nearby exclaimed to a man "behind you!" It was a coyote - which we'd seen twice already today - but this one was just a few feet behind the guy. We walked quietly over and as the coyote moved around the perimeter of the lot, it passed just a few feet from Ellen, making eye contact the whole time. Very cool. We laughed at all the great timing, thanked God for another good day and went back to the tent.
I'm not sure why all these ailments, physical and now material, are happening to me (Ellen), but we made a point to pray over it together tonight. And the most pressing need in my heart was to confirm out loud that my joy is not in my computer or in my legs, but in my God. That might sound silly, but its something I struggle with. I have such a need to communicate what we're seeing and doing to people back home and to save the experience on film for later. But that leads me away from living in the moment and savoring some of these experiences with God alone without thinking of everyone I'll share the story with and show the photos to. Similarly, I can get so stuck on achieving - hiking further, faster, running, jumping - all in pursuit of having an adventure, seeing stuff no one else sees. Its not a bad thing, but when I start believing that my own abilities is what makes the magic of the trip happen, then I'm leaving out my most important companion and the source of it all. So its a good thing that I'm struggling to walk and can't share anything with my friends back home. It definitely smarts when He does things like this, but I'd rather lose everything else than to lose sight of God.
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