Imagine the morning after the first snow in colorado, you arrive to work as the mist is rising off the water. Water temp 51, air temperature below freezing, but warming. No wind, you’re thankful, but don’t mention anything for superstitious fear of invoking it.

The short boat ride down the coast, placid.

This morning you’re joined by some homeschool kids and their Mom; a little apprehensive, definitely curious, happy to jump in and help.

As things speed up in the springtime, my urge to slow down and savor the moment increases …and then I remember that stepping in and spending time with children, walking in their way, is just the medicine I’m seeking.

After the obligatory Old Faithful viewing we visited Black Sand Basin. It was a relief just to get away from all the people. The air was cold and the humid, it felt so good on our parched Colorado skin. Microbial mats of color illuminated our senses and gave rise to our mystical imaginations. The deep gurgling from geysers rumbled through our heads and it felt like we were waking up. Waking up from the long drive and the 2020 pandemic isolation slumber.

I feel like I am watching my upcoming parenting-an-adolescent years in fast forward here on the banks of the North Platte. This mother Bald Eagle stepping back, ignoring the pleading cries of her oversized fledgling in favor of him learning to hunt for himself, but still watching. I literally observed her hiding being a rock and peering over the top at her fledgling. I wonder how long this dance has been happening; a month, weeks, days, just today? I mean, he sounds pretty hungry. Is this the time he is going to do it & get himself some food?

In that time I gave back to my farming roots and realized a lot about the state of agriculture in Colorado. Mainly, that we're off course. If we're going to be able to sustain ourselves and thrive; we don't need more farmer's markets, we need more farmers.

I joke a lot, but it was both a fun & relaxing day. Being on the water as it gently lapped the boats is a therapeutic sort of calm. The kind of calm I wish more families were experiencing on this day; the first day of back-to-school in a pandemic during a major computer malfunction (zoom crashed). Not that I miss the crowded lake, it's just that I wish for families to feel relief from the current tension that is pervading our communities as kids go back-to-school this year.