gutter-fishing

Yesterday I drove to St. George for groceries. In the world I grew up in, you drive 7 minutes down the road to the store and get what you need when you need it. You don't devise a list all week and then embark on an hour long drive involving a cooler and ice packs so you can keep your milk and chicken cold in a city that is usually 5-10 degrees hotter than Zion... which is just draining. Grocery shopping wears me out. And it's been so dry and hot here that I was dreading spending an hour or two in a place that was even drier and hotter.

On my way through Rockville, UT, I saw a boy sitting in the gutter with a fishing pole. And as I watched, something tugged and he excitedly rolled back on his back and reeled whatever it was in. I thought there can't be any water in there... He might have caught a tire.

I got to St. George and on the horizon a long stretch of red dust cloud was growing and moving closer. It looked like an ocean wave far off in the distance or a scene from the Sahara with the heat waves lifting off the ground, making the whole thing look like a mirage. A storm was coming. I rushed all my errands so I could get back to Zion in time to catch the waterfalls that appear off the rims of the cliffs when it storms. But as I frantically drove back, I realized I had missed it. The street through Rockville was full of puddles and the gutter where the boy was fishing was now a river full of red mud.

The canyon had grown more colorful when I was gone. It literally takes on more color as the red rocks are saturated and the desert varnish becomes shiny and a thing called Resurrection Moss comes to life and expands and turns bright green on the cliffs. Oak Creek, which is usually a dried up stream-bed behind my house, had erupted into life and red-brown water was roaring through my backyard.

When it rains in the desert, something almost spiritual takes place. The plants and sandstone graciously accept the drink and rivers and waterfalls come out of nowhere. This morning it rained again and I got out of bed and stood outside to watch Oak Creek flash again. I came back in and opened the doors and windows to let the breeze and new smells come in and I fell back asleep with wet hair. The rain seeped into my dry skin and hair as I lay on the couch and the lightning kept sending flashes across my eyelids.

I felt cleaned and decided I didn't need a shower today.

Aaahh! It's beautiful! I'm looking out the window at the library at the West Temple. The sun finally came out and the sky is blue again. Someone just came in and I heard them say to the librarian "Don't you just love this? Everything has been washed clean."