Traveling with young children opens my eyes in a wonderful way. The pace we walk is sometimes quick, when there’s ground to cover, or a Ranger talk to get to.  But often we have no schedule, and we all stop and look for lizards, listen to the bird song, marvel at the tracks in the sand, climb the boulders, again, higher… and while the Grand Canyon of Arizona, Bryce
Canyon and Arches National Park in Utah are grand in and of themselves, they are the more wondrous when seen in slo mo, and enhanced by sharing the experience with my grandkids.

There is something too, about being down and dirty, with hands and feet, in millions and millions of years of geology…it creates a humility and puts life, our modern culture, our values and priorities in perspective.  Annie Dillard says, “Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery.”  And it is easy to be in touch with that here, now.

Jill Schroder is the author of BECOMING: Journeying Toward Authenticity. Check the website for a sample chapter, or see the reviews to get a flavor for the volume.