about this time every year (actually starting in mid-may and lasting until the end of june), i get a little depressed. why? because in 1998, i went on my first trip of a lifetime -
my first geology field camp! (well, that link is the "new" field camp, a little different than when i went as a student.) its so great that all my memories as a student are wonderful. great people, great teachers (even mr. "MMMMMKAY" smith), and GREAT GREAT fun (somewhat fogged with beer goggles).
two years later when i started graduate school (which i never finished...), i got the pleasure of going back as a teaching assistant. the course had changed a little (more to what the link above is like now, less camping, no visiting arizona and the grand canyon... but not at all less fun). still, great group of students, same great group of professors, and again - great memories (still fogged with the beer goggles...)
of coarse the second time i went out west, i was having a little personal turmoil, which ultimately led to my "letting go" of a marriage. i suppose that second trip meant a little more to me than just a trip out west. it was a defining moment in my life - again.
so now its been 11 years since i went to field camp for the first time (eh, 9 years since the last time i went) and since then, katelyn has gone also. i'm pretty sure she enjoyed it, though i'm not sure it was as life changing for her as it was for me.
there is something about the desert southwest that draws me back. and every may and june since 1998, the spirits sing my name. and when i can't go, it makes me very sad.
last september, nathaniel, kendal, and i took a grand vacation to many of the same places i went to with my field camp group. i know kendal won't remember the trip, but it may have been life changing for nathaniel, though only for a 2 week visit.
we still talk about that trip like it was yesterday.
i wish it were tomorrow.
i wonder if this september the spirits will begin an annual singing of OUR names.
about this time every year (actually starting in mid-may and lasting until the end of june), i get a little depressed. why? because in 1998, i went on my first trip of a lifetime - my first geology field camp! (well, that link is the "new" field camp, a little different than when i went as a student.) its so great that all my memories as a student are wonderful. great people, great teachers (even mr. "MMMMMKAY" smith), and GREAT GREAT fun (somewhat fogged with beer goggles).
two years later when i started graduate school (which i never finished...), i got the pleasure of going back as a teaching assistant. the course had changed a little (more to what the link above is like now, less camping, no visiting arizona and the grand canyon... but not at all less fun). still, great group of students, same great group of professors, and again - great memories (still fogged with the beer goggles...)
of coarse the second time i went out west, i was having a little personal turmoil, which ultimately led to my "letting go" of a marriage. i suppose that second trip meant a little more to me than just a trip out west. it was a defining moment in my life - again.
so now its been 11 years since i went to field camp for the first time (eh, 9 years since the last time i went) and since then, katelyn has gone also. i'm pretty sure she enjoyed it, though i'm not sure it was as life changing for her as it was for me.
there is something about the desert southwest that draws me back. and every may and june since 1998, the spirits sing my name. and when i can't go, it makes me very sad.
last september, nathaniel, kendal, and i took a grand vacation to many of the same places i went to with my field camp group. i know kendal won't remember the trip, but it may have been life changing for nathaniel, though only for a 2 week visit.
we still talk about that trip like it was yesterday.
i wish it were tomorrow.
i wonder if this september the spirits will begin an annual singing of OUR names.
I fall asleep every night thinking about the SW. It's the only way I can fall asleep now.
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