Desert Secrets

I opened my eyes begrudgingly to the cold dry dawn of the desert. I glanced at the clock; 5:33 am, too early for anything. My dad had woken us all up at 2 in the morning to begin the long drive to my aunt’s house. I’d been sleeping on and off, waking up almost every hour, uncomfortable and stiff necked. While attempting to stretch out the stiffness in my body, I glanced out the window and saw… basically nothing. There was not much of anything to see, only miles of dust speckled by the gray green harshness of a few shrubs sunk in the dirt. I shifted to a new equally uncomfortable position in my chair, using my seatbelt as a pseudo pillow, and eventually fell back asleep.

I woke again later to a burst of light flooding the horizon. Color, vibrant and bright against the still dark purple of night, stained the wispy, trailing clouds in the sky. I was suddenly struck by the sheer vastness of the heavens and the eternity of the rolling desert land. There was so much to see, and my body’s fatigue from hours of travel seemed to be chased away by sheer wonder. This time, I wasn’t tempted to fall back sleep. I sat watching the beautiful sky and the rising, spreading colors of the sunrise until the magic ended and the sun came up. The desert was once again restored to the dull colors of beige and gray green. I turned away from my window, knowing that there was nothing more to be seen  now but the blazing blinding light of the ascending sun. With the light show over, I started busying myself by pulling out snacks and books and movies. The rest of the drive proved to be nothing special, with only emptiness to be seen out my window. In between movies, I would glance out and spot the only visible living things in the desert: cacti, looking like sentinels sporadically placed to protect the secrets of the desert. I knew, however, what secret the cacti were protecting: the secret beauty of the desert, a secret only to be discovered by those observant and watchful enough to notice it.

(Picture credit goes to another family member)