Best of '09 Blog Challenge: Moment of Peace

Best of 2009 Blog Challenge, Day 8: Moment of Peace
An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

I know I reference this trip a lot, but it honestly meant something to me. And my response may be shorter than the prompt, but that's ok--apparently I change it often. While at Monument Valley, which goes between Arizona and Utah pending where you are in the park, there's a small part that's at the very back of the driving portion. Only a few of us made it out that way since most of the group decided to do a horseback ride through the park, but myself, Ruthie, Michele and Claudio opted not to and went on through the roads.

The most peaceful moment of 2009 is at a place called Artist's Point. This is us looking out into it.


It doesn't look like much in the picture, but believe me when I say it stretched for miles and miles. You don't see it in the picture, but there are massive monuments that you see as well, and a small river at the bottom of the cliff (that's what the bar is there for). And the thing is, this place is Silence Itself. You're in the middle of one of the biggest Valleys in the world, honestly in the middle of nowhere, and the silence is astounding. All of us were whispering because we felt like we were interrupting something.

It was absolutely beautiful. We stood there for about 10 minutes in complete silence, just looking out. When you're there, you have no choice but to think of your position in the world, in the entire Universe. There are things so beautiful and so astounding, and yet the center of the world to you, is YOU. And you have to wonder why. And how. And should it be. And then you try to figure out how to make your life worthwhile of something so breathtaking and miraculous in front of you.

Me, Claudio, Ruthie, and Michele at Artist's Point

That's us; you can see the Monuments that you see beyond. They look small, but they are literally miles and miles tall. You're dwarfed and put in your place and as small as ants in the grand scheme, and I have never felt so blessed being miniscule and completely unnecessary.