Not So Junior Ranger Day
Our last real day of hiking. Corona-virus panic and precautions are in full swing. The visitors center at organ pipe national monument are only allowing three inside at a time. Inside the visitors center you can find your age in saguaro years (65 years for me). On the bright-side of all this panic, we earned our not so junior ranger patches by doing some fun activities in a book that I can't forget to get out of the van as I am writing this (the book, not the patch). The way we all rushed to be the first to finish the crossword and other activities in the book reminded me of being a kid. Moments of silliness like this might be hard to come by in the near future as covid-19 continues to infect more people. This patch feels like an artifact that ties our group together. The patch will remind me of a day of silliness and heartbreak (for Jacob since he didn't get to see the gila monster). It will also remind me of all the other days we spent together walking around, observing the biota, laughing at each other's jokes, walking into cacti, racing to the top of a dune, cooking and cleaning for each other. There is something I'll miss about living with a somewhat large group of people. It could be my ancestral soul wanting to be around other humans I love instead of scrolling through my phone in a quiet apartment. Maybe some of us will lose the patch, but I will find a special place for it as it holds a lot of value for me. Also, a naturally occurring hole in a rock is not an arch, regardless of what the park service says.
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