Fences

It was October of last year when my husband Steve and I took our first roadtrip together (we weren't married at the time).  It's a 10 hour drive from Phoenix, AZ to Grand Junction, CO and I figured this would not only be good quality time together, BUT it would also test how we handle being in a small space for 8 hours straight - TOGETHER!  As it turns out, we were able to talk about a lot of different topics - it helped pass time, kept us awake and alert while also being able to learn about each other.  While all of that is great and obviously worked out because we married several months later, what really stands out to me about that road trip was the fact that we were ok with just being still and quiet - It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, which was my initial fear because I enjoy my quiet time to meditate and reflect.  Fortunately Steve enjoys the same.  

It was during these stretches of silence that I was able to glance out the window and watch the landscape change as we drove from place to place and that's when I began to notice the fences along the highway.  Sounds weird, but if you know anything about the landscape of northern Arizona and western Colorado, there are big hills and mountains everywhere!  There are also a lot of indian reservation land that seemed to go on forever.  Despite these landscape challenges, there were fences high and low and in between.  I was amazed at how these fences were placed in such hard to reach places.  My mind began to wander.  I started rambling on (to Steve) about these fences and how they didn't end.  As we drove for hours, everywhere we went they were there all along the road.  He didn't seem too impressed, but humored me in conversation about them.

As I started to look at the fences even closer, I noticed they were made differently - some with wood painted nice and new, while others were old, weathered and barely able to divide the land.  Some of the fences with barbed wire had things lodged in them like garbage or ripped cloth.  Even some of these long fences had pieces of wood helping prop others pieces for added strength. 

I began to correlate these fences to people - to myself!  I could relate to them in a weird sorta way.....Thinking of myself and my life's experiences, I remember a time when I felt fresh and new, unweathered.  As I've aged and life happens, these "things" get stuck to you and it's hard to let go or even get off of you (metaphorically speaking).  Like those fences, sometimes we just need a little help - some propping up.  Mostly I realized we are each as unique as those fences.  As the wind blows and changes the earth and the fences, so it changes us.  It's how we look at each other in our own uniqueness that makes such an interesting world.  With that realization, I looked over at Steve and began to smile.  I was so happy that he found the imperfections in me were perfect for him and vice versa.  Life is good and it's what we make of it.  It was time for me to let go of those "things' that were lodged in my fence (hurt, pain, fear, etc.).  It was time to live!