DAY 23: "Blessed Indeed....."

DAY 23:  Mt.  Sneffels, Ouray, Colorado
TEMP:  68 Degrees (High)

"Live Every Day with Enjoyment - We Don't Know What Tomorrow Will Give Us....."

Today was cold, rainy and dreary......

I take no satisfaction in telling this to my family and friends in Texas who are suffering through a blistering summer of 100+ degrees each and every day with no rain in sight......I tell you this cause sometimes we lose sight of the blessings we have even when they may not have the appearance of a blessing.....

Let me explain....

Today I met Gib and Marge......they were on the same Jeep tour I was on to Mt. Sneffels, or otherwise known as Yankee Boy Basin.  Matter of fact, us three were the ONLY ones on the tour due to the nasty weather.

Marge was nervous; Gib held her hand and smiled lovingly at her, all the while, patting it reassuredly.  She had a laugh just like my Ant Ellie, so much so that if you closed your eyes, you would swear Ant Ellie was sitting right next to you.  I actually closed my eyes many times over the course of the 4 hours just pretending Ant Ellie was really there...she would have loved this adventure!  Marge would do the "Ant Ellie" laugh when she was especially tense; like when we would meet another jeep on the narrow trail or the back wheels spun due to the rain soaked trail.....

We got to know each other pretty well over the course of our soggy time together in an open-air Jeep made for 12.......See, Gib and Marge have been married for 54 years; have 6 children; 9 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren, and are the happiest married couple I believe I've ever met.  Even with the cold, rain and scary cliff-hugging trails, you could tell they were madly in love....even after waking up to each others' face for 54 years.  They were blessed beyond words....

But my blessing today was not just in meeting Gib and Marge, but as we came to the end of our wet ride to Yankee Boy Basin, we rounded a corner and saw the most amazing field after field after field of wildflowers and waterfalls.......Everywhere we looked, there were wildflowers......

In an instant, the rain and the cold no longer existed.......we were surrounded by the most splendid, magnificant site one could imagine.   It was like the rain had washed the dust off the flowers, which caused them to be even more vivid.....and then the clouds starting surrounding us....which, if possible, made them even more brilliant!

After an hour of exploring and while waiting on our tour driver, the three of us just sat there on a rock; rain pouring down on us, soaking it all in saying nothing.......you see, we all realized there were no words to say.....

Blessed Indeed.....