On Lolo Pond: May 2012

Last weekend Ryan, Eiger and I took a long past-due trip up to East Glacier--it's the longest we've ever been without going up there since we've been together (our Christmas trip was the last time!), and I can hardly explain how wonderful it felt to make the journey north into the mountains that we love so much. We arrived in the dark, and when I woke up on Saturday morning, I felt like a child looking forward to a fun outing--I couldn't sleep so I walked down to Midvale Creek with Eiger. It was a bluebird day and the air was still cool despite the warmth that came later in the day. I found myself actually tearing up as I took in all of the sounds and the intense beauty of the place. Some of that is probably pregnancy, but a big part of it is loving a place so deeply that I almost felt like I was reuniting with a lover after over four and a half months of being apart. I had a profound experience while sitting by Midvale that morning when I realized that our little girl will be the sixth generation of Sherburne's from East Glacier, and that her deep roots somehow draw me even closer to this incredible place. This person that I am growing inside of me, that's part me and part Ryan, is coming into this world with a profound connection to a place, and I am so incredibly happy that she is going to be able to have that experience in life--which has become so unique in the United States--and I am also incredibly grateful that she will bring me even closer to this sacred land.

Ryan and I spent the weekend going to our favorite places--Lake Sherburne and Many Glacier, up to the Jackson Overlook on Going-to-the-Sun, Two Medicine, and the reservoir. We spent time with Grandma Doris, Julie, Cole, Terry, Stephen, Joyce and Bill Jim (friends who are more like family to the Sherburne's and help run the motel every summer), and celebrated Mother's Day with Julie as well. As I mentioned, it was gorgeous all weekend, and being about a month behind the climate of the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys, we saw leaves and flowers just beginning to open in the short time that we were there. Glacier lilies are just starting to spread across the shaded hills, Pasque flowers are prolific in the meadows, shooting stars are gradually reaching up to their full height and beauty, and cottonwoods and aspens are just now beginning to unfurl their leaves. There are still piles of snow (in places large hills and walls of snow!), and the mountains of Glacier are still blanketed in white. It's definitely early spring there, while here in Lolo there are already flowers that have finished their season's cycle, and the leaves are broad and open--only some of the more shaded cottonwood leaves still have the brown, fragrant sap painted on them. I love the feeling of stepping back in time, getting to experience the thrill of the beginnings of life emerging yet again. It was a lovely weekend.