Colorado, Day 2

Rocky Mountain National Park.  Gorgeousness abounds, though
those are the outhouses in the foreground. :)

July 19, 2014
          Day 80

Today we went high up into the mountains here in Colorado to Long's Peak and hiked around Bear Lake.  There are lots of stories to tell, but here's just a small one I think is funny.  Ironically, for the second day in a row, I'm going to discuss bathrooms.

In the parking lot before we began our walk, I ran into the bathroom quick to pee, not expecting perfection, but definitely not expecting what I saw.

The lid was down, which always makes me worry.  Was there a flushing problem the previous user didn't want to tell me about?  Or perhaps he just wanted to be polite somehow?  So I walk over and raise the seat, hoping it'd be clean.  Well, the good news right away was that there was nothing in the pot.  The bad news is, it was because the toilet literally had no bottom.  A simple glance downward showed me a giant mass of...  Well, a giant mass of bodily product about 10 feet down.  It was light enough to see much more than I'd like to, but dark enough to help me focus on something closer to the area all around me in the tiny bathroom.

But yeah, there I was up in the mountains, delighted with the amazing views all around me, yet reminded right away that being part of nature meant really, really accepting nature, if you know what I mean.

Soon enough, of course, I was back out in nature, enjoying the incredible snow-topped mountain vistas up above, and absorbing each and every bit of the day I could.  I stopped thinking about the bathroom adventure, and focused on the sightseeing adventure.  And yet of all the things I could have written about here, I chose to focus on the strangest, most mundane moment.

I think it's because it was the most profound reminder I could have been given that this beautiful state, these beautiful mountains, and yes, even this beautiful earth, are all grounded in beautiful reality.  No matter how high up we reach for the clouds, no matter how stunned we are by the beauty around us, and no matter how impressed and inspired we are by the movements of spirit, we've still got lots of shit, too.  And the shit's a reminder of perspective.

Today is the 17th anniversary of the day I left the religious life.  It's a day I recall each year to remember the freedom I have now.  An old monk I took care of a bit in my last year in the monastery once taught me, "If you don't take the bitter with the sweet, you can't tell the difference."

A massive literal shithole beneath the outhouse today kind of helped me appreciate the beauties of nature even more.  And the beauties of nature today also helped me appreciate all the shit I was trying not to think about.  The bitter and the sweet, and the difference appreciated.

Day 3 begins in a few hours, and it'll be a day marked by some pretty shitty feelings and some pretty amazing views.  But more on that tomorrow.