Welcome to a special Monday night edition of The Sister Lode. You’ll see why I chose to write it tonight…

I did it again. I didn’t think I should, but I did. And I am so glad I did.

Suzanne, Gail and I all do it. Sometimes together, sometimes separately. Sometimes we do it near, and sometimes we do it far. Sometimes we do it west, and sometimes we do it east. Sometimes north or south, even southeast. Tonight, I am doing it southwest.

Letting ourselves go, that is.

I let myself go last Thursday. I had a grand plan to visit people I needed to connect with, and see cool places along the way. So, my first stop was in our beloved Cripple Creek, Colorado for our annual trip. Suzanne stayed back, but Gail, Margaret and I had a fabulous time. I drove alone Thursday, arriving about an hour after Gail and Margaret did. They got a jump start on the fun, but there is always plenty to be had. More on that in a bit, as I am writing this in installments as I unpack my computer every night, wherever I happened to land.

I drove alone because my Grand Plan is this: Cripple Creek to Creede, Colorado, which didn’t pan out due to snow and strong winds predicted in the mountains of southwest Colorado. My friend and fellow speech therapist Christy lives there, and it was time for a visit. We worked together at one point and she was a fabulous coworker. Plan B was to drive south to Santa Fe to avoid the weather. I am writing this part from my beautiful hotel room on the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe. Not coincidentally, the hotel I chose is the Hotel St. Francis. The St. Francis Basilica is nearby as well.

Mom’s favorite saint was Saint Francis, and he has become ours, too.

I will get up early and get in a run/walk around the Santa Fe Plaza to stretch these legs before I put them back in the car for another six hours tomorrow. I will stop in Albuquerque to connect with another friend for breakfast.

I hadn’t seen Debby since we both attended Eastern New Mexico University. I was there for the Fall 1986 semester on an exchange program from my home college of Fort Hays State University. I hadn’t stayed in touch with her, but we recently connected again through Diane, who was also a student on the exchange from her college in Maine. Soon, Debby and I plan to let ourselves go to Maine to see her.

On down Interstate 40 to my current location: splendidly beautiful, spiritual and mystic Sedona, Arizona.

I am staying in a charming VRBO. I found it online Tuesday night, but knew I wanted to follow this Russian proverb: The morning is wiser than the evening. I felt strongly emotional about staying here, but I wanted to let some reason seep in, too. So, I waited until morning, knowing it might be booked already, as most of the dates on the March calendar March for this place were not available. If it wasn’t there in the morning, I decided it was, as my friend Carol says in Yiddish, beshert. Fate.

As fate would see to it, it was indeed available, and I made it mine for these three nights. If you need a one-bedroom place to stay here, let me know. It is splendidly perfect for a stay here.

Minutes after I booked this beautiful VRBO, I set out for my daily run/walk. The first song on my iPod was “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Yes, we do, and so do you. The next song was “Roam” by the B-52s. Here’s my signs.

My ultimate destination on this ten-day adventure is Phoenix to see my dear friends Tana and Amy. These are the two sisters who, along with their families, visit me every summer. I “babysat” them years ago, and we have stayed close. I am so glad we have.

They have starred in multiple posts, including: Thirty-nine Years, (July 9th, 2023), Swheat Girls Part Two and Three, (July 10th, 2022, July 7th, 2019).

Gail, Margaret and I savored our time in Cripple Creek, taking in this unique exhibit that Cripple Creek was chosen to host. Each year, “Ice Castles” selects four (cold) places around the country to create their ice masterpieces, and our timing was perfect to see it before it was slated to come down on March 3rd.

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Today is March 4th again. Sixteen years ago on this date, we lost our parents in a car accident. The memories of pain and sadness will forever swirl around this date, but with each passing year, the legacy of love they left and the memories of the good times outweigh this pain. We do all we can to celebrate their lives all year through, but especially on this date. Last year, I went to the top of Pike’s Peak on March 4th. (Closer to Heaven, March 5th, 2023) This year, I am in Sedona, Arizona. I haven’t yet decided where I’ll go next year.

“March Forth” has become our rally cry, and we plan to continue to March farther each year.

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All this adventuring requires time, energy and money. All of us possess these three basic resources in disparate amounts. Most of us–myself included–underestimate how much of each we truly have. Remember, most of us can make more money, but none of us can make more time. The physical and mental energy we each possess is largely in our control and can be increased if we do the work. Most of us–again, myself included–feel guilty spending those resources on ourselves, but if we don’t take care of ourselves first with them, we can’t spend them on others. Most of us live in a straitjacket of perceived “shoulds” and “should-nots,” myself included. However, each of us are the only ones who can separate out the perceived obligations and duties from the real ones, and this is a task. It takes some mind and soul-searching, but it’s in there. Remember: Don’t ‘should’ on yourself.”

I think perhaps if we all let ourselves go a little more, we could hang on to each other a little better.

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I set out this morning to hike through the beautiful red rocks here in Sedona. The Thunder Mountain trailhead is just 200 yards from my door, and when I set out on it, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC came on my iPod.

Here’s another sign. They are out there if we stay open to them.

The scenery was breathtaking and brilliantly beautiful. These pictures are worth a million words, so I’ll let them tell the story.

Also on the trail was the Amitabha Stupa, a sacred Buddhist landmark signifying peace and enlightened presence.

Tomorrow morning, I will drive to Flagstaff to pick up my dear friend Marilyn. ( Sister Sarah, October 22, 2017.)

I invited her along, but she couldn’t join me until tomorrow. We will go to the Grand Canyon–she hasn’t yet seen it. Marilyn was my potluck dorm roommate in 1984, and also my inspiration to become a speech therapist. I am so grateful she was placed in my path.

It will indeed be Grand, just as our friendship is.

I must admit I felt some fear before I set out alone in the car. Now, 1,222 miles later, I am so glad I didn’t let it take over. There were many “what-ifs” that crept into my mind, but I ignored them. Unless you are like Gail and are indeed fearless, you might have a few of those growing, too.

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You are here is always where we all are. Some people are content to stay in their here, and I must admit I wish I could be more like them. However, if you don’t like your here, figure out where your there is, and make it your here. And I’m not talking only about a geographic place, if you get my drift. Your mind will likely try to talk you out of it, so you’ll need to pull the ‘what-if’ weeds out of that beautiful garden that is already growing in your mind, and smell the ‘why-not’ wildflowers. Those beautiful blooms are there waiting to flourish, but are likely being choked by the weeds.

Taking the first step might be hard,

but just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Sometimes the road may be rocky, but if you let it, it just may rise up to meet you. (That one’s for you, Anna!)

You’ll know when you get there.

Perhaps, like me, you can’t stay there, but do enjoy the time you do have while you are there.

Gail gave Suzanne and me the necklace with Mom and Dad’s picture last year. Her daughter Lydia had one made for her, so she knew we needed one, too.

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I pray you don’t need sadness or a tragedy to spur you on to March Forth. However, I have learned that most of us have been bruised and battered by life (and death) in some way. It may be visible or not, it may be public or not, but most of us carry some weight we could let go of, or at least lessen, perhaps by letting yourself go.

I let myself go.

In loving memory of our parents, Ed and Liz.

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**Please consider reposting this to your Facebook page, and asking your friends to do the same. Again, I think if we all let ourselves go a bit more, we could hang on to each other better. **