I Love New Mexico

In May, 2008, I attended the annual conference for the Society of Shamanic Practitioners in New Mexico. It was a great conference but I'm writing about what came after. I had asked my son, Yvan, to go with me to the Carlsbad/Guadalupe Mountains area to commemorate the 5-year anniversary of my father's passing.
My Dad was a well-known geologist/paleontologist and had done a lot of field work in the area we were visiting. He had especially loved Guadalupe Peak and El Capitan. We had an amazing time. Driving to Carlsbad Caverns, every cactus was in full bloom, just really beautiful. The Caverns, of course, are awesome. This was my third or fourth visit and Yvan's second.
The next day, we had decided to hike around (not up) Guadalupe Peak. Not up, because I not feeling real great (more on my shamanic illness in a later post). The temperature was in the 90's, I was having my cardiac arrythmias and was generally pretty out of breath. (These arrythmias weren't deadly, just debilitating; the deadly one was treated with a pacemaker, now only 2 months old.) We hadn't gone far before I told Yvan that I wasn't sure I could make it. He said, " Well, we'll take it really slow and turn back whenever you're ready." That was all I needed. I think I got a second wind because we did quite a good hike. I think my Dad would have been proud. I did leave something there in his memory - very small and organic. If you look at the picture of Yvan pointing, that's where it is. Don't look for it, because you won't find it.