Classic Utah

On the road today.  Again. Yesterday was all about airplanes.  Today we're in the car.  Well, we're in Brett's car. Exploring in the Explorer I suppose you could say.  Brian says it feels like we are getting the "Behind the Scenes" tour today.  We're traveling from Stansbury Park near Tooele to Cedar City.  Rather than trek back to civilization out and around the mountain we are taking the road less traveled. 

 

The back roads.  It feels so classic Utah to me.  The windshield is smothered in bug guts.  Tunes on the radio.  Nothing as far as the eye can see ahead of you. Mountain range on your left and another on your right.  The open treeless land stretches on and on forever.  No shade.  No water. No relief from the oppressive heat.  We've been on the road for near two hours.  I admit I have been a bit distracted on the computer, but I think I could count on one hand the number of cars we have passed in that time.  Utah highways are a mixed bag.  They bring a feeling of familarity.  They hold a feeling of adventure and strength to be out and on your own.  Then they feel scary if you let your mind wander into the what if zone.

 

My children will never be attached in that way to the long, lonely expanses of desert Utah highways.  I wonder what they will know.  What will be their grounding?  We've lived in three houses since Ben was born and are moving to the fourth before he turns seven.  Truth be told, that's what I want for my family.  Adventure, in a long term form, not just a two week trip somewhere cool.  Culture, to see it all and take what I like while leaving the rest.  Respect, for other places, peoples, things and God's creations.  Change, to add spice to life and teach my children acceptance of those different than themselves.  But how does that translate into their life experience?  What will they call home if home changes from year to year?  Will they be strong and bold enough to make friends everywhere we go?  Will I?

 

Then I ponder my Classic Utah and know that my job as a mother is to create the same home that I know inside their hearts.  To know that our family unit, no matter the walls look like, will be their memories. To create traditions to cement them into something familiar and grand in it's own rite.  For them, it will be a moving home, but that's okay as long as they have permanence in family.

 

PS - We just got onto I-15 and passed a speed limit sign saying we could legally go 80 MPH. Right now, Utah rocks just a little bit extra.