A Quick Trip...With Friends

Last year I finished a new play titled "Children of Jupiter: Savage Bond." It's a little play about the human condition, friendship, secrets and coping with death. I started sending it off to competitions back in November, and in December the play was named as a finalist in the first competition- the Rocky Mountain Theatre Association Festival 2009. So last weekend I took a quick trip down to Durango, Colorado for the reading. Okay, so it was a 10 hour drive, but I met my friends Braden and Dan in Salt Lake and they joined me for the weekend. We and we took all day Friday getting there, so we were able to enjoy Eastern Utah, the Red Rocks of Moab, see the Monticello temple, and go to Mesa Verde- my first trip to all of these places. It was then that I realized that I have lived in Idaho, Utah, and Colorado for 28 years and have never seen that part of my own country!
The reading went very well on Saturday, and the panel discussion that followed was tremendously helpful. We spent Saturday afternoon walking through downtown Durango before heading back to Moab on Saturday night and home on Sunday.
All of the events of the trip were great, but the best part was spending time with two of my closest friends. There are a number of people who pass through your life, and I personally believe that each of them is put in your path for a specific purpose either in your or their eternal progression. Some of those people come and go from your life in a matter of seconds, but others hang around for years and you have the opportunity to incorporate them into your life. I have a number of friends who fall into this last category, and spending time with Braden and Dan this weekend I realized that the last thirteen and ten years I have known them, respectively, have had a huge impact on my life. I am so grateful for my friends, the deep conversations and the fun adventures. They have seen me through some of the lowest lows and joined me in the highs of accomplishment and success. My one hope in this life is that I can be that kind of friend to others, that kind of husband, and that kind of father.

Spruce Tree House. I can't even begin to comprehend how the Puebloans accomplished feats like these.




Dan and Braden. We were down beneath the earth in a ceremonial room.


Braden and me on our hike back from Spruce Tree House


Cliff Palace- the biggest of all the cliff dwellings, the road to it is closed in the winter, so we could only view it from across the canyon.