Article September 6, 2004 Issue

On the road ... part 2

By Patti Kadick

Here I am in northwestern Washington State, feeling satisfied. I made it! Can a place be gentle? This one feels so. Or is it that I have come to expect gentleness and that my "be–ing" here on and ever will be gentle—no more ragged edges.

Driving through mountains, however, for me wasn't a gentle thing—overwhelming bigness felt abrupt and sharp, subjecting me to twists and turns. Yet the Divine took me gently, calmly over the Continental Divide in Montana. Filled with delight, with awe. Made me wonder—if such rock–hugeness humbles and subjects me, then how very much I must yield to God, the only truly great and infinite One.

I had driven through Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Utah, and Washington. A correction appeared in the September 13, 2004 Sentinel: "In the September 6 issue, the article titled "On the road ... 2" by Patti Kadick misstated her route. The states she actually drove through were Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington." Could I possibly hold and keep and share all that moved me deeply—the view I caught of water rushing down a severe rock cliff, so close it sprayed my car? Marshes teeming, as if ecstatic with birds. The first time ever seeing a magpie on wing. The close smell of fresh–cut clover. And the glimpse on an early morning of a rustic cafe that beckoned me to stop. Lakes and rivers shining with life and peace and energy, folding me into their grace. The sight of two prairie dogs bounding across a field, making my heart dance. All gifts so worth keeping.

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