Belly Flowers

Today at the park Dietrich was surveying the other adults and kids on their experiences of riding monorail trains. He had at least one responder who had been on one. He went on to tell of his recent rides on the Las Vegas monorail, joined in by Elliott who shared the details of wheelchair accessibility for each stop and which hotels were the smokiest. There was no mention of why they were in Las Vegas (we were en route to southern Utah) or why we were in the smokey casinos (there is no way to get to your hotel room but straight through them) or what we did the other 9 days we were away (we explored the desert, mountains, rivers, caves of southern Utah!). Then again, Vegas kind of grabs your attention.

But I have no doubt that someday when they are sorting through the places their parents explored with them they will also remember the lava fields and slick rock and sand dunes and building a snowman while wearing shorts. On one of our hikes in Snow Canyon State Park, Elliott stretched his legs across the dusty trail and brought his chin to the level of a yellow flower. He squinted his eyes in the direct sun which pulled up his cheeks and made him smile. I had for a moment forgotten the page in his autographed copy of "A Walk in the Park" about Snow Canyon that talked about the belly flowers; flowers so small you need to get down on your belly to appreciate them. But there he was, putting all the pieces together. He may have been not wanting to hold a hand on the steep trail or incessantly talking about the functions of a calculator the rest of the day. But at that moment he showed us, right there on his belly, that being in the desert was all coming together for him. And I had almost told him to get up and walk.

So I have no doubt that there is more to life than calculators and elevator buttons for Elliott. That this green abundant world is also in his view. The day we returned he suggested having a hike every week in the Arboretum, which so far we have done. For now, I just have to put up with Vegas.