Too Late to Stop Now
“And I wanna rock your gypsy soul. Just like way back in the days of old. Then magnificently we will float. Into the mystic.” ~ Van Morrison.
Marie, during my early rise morning bike trek yesterday throughout West Glacier, I thought back to our humble beginnings.
Pedaling up Camus Road, sweating and breathing heavy (feeling the elevation gain) with beautiful scenery on my left and right. I was magically lost in my thoughts drifting back 40 years ago to our Honeymoon (weekend) spent in the Poconos in 1982. Both of us so young. Both of us so in love.
While we had no money (I was finishing college, while you worked full-time) we had something money couldn’t buy - a belief in each other.
Speaking of money….I remembered us saving our money to have a ‘proper’ Honeymoon Vacation 25 years later in Hawaii (2007).
It was our very first multiple week vacation. Fortunately, we would have many other similar (extended vacations) in the years to follow.
And now here we are another 15 years later from that amazing Tropical Adventure, alone in these four very foreign northern states, exploring our great country. Together in the Great American West!
Much like those earlier pioneers, we too have always had a fiercely independent spirit (others may call stubbornness) to do things our own way, make plenty of mistakes but in the end live the life we wanted to live. Not somebody else’s dream or journey. (See below family struggles)
Our journey has been filled with unbelievable highs and lows, incredible twists and turns much like the ones we witnessed during today’s adventure driving/exploring Going To The Sun (GTTS) Road.
Leaving Apgar Village this morning the Glacier sun was climbing high into the blue Montana summer sky. Analogous to the carefree early years of our marriage.
However, by the time we reached Heaven’s Peak heavy cloud cover rolled in as the sun vanished from the sky perhaps like when your mom and my grandparents left this earth too early. Or for those two dark years when we struggled trying to start a family.
And then by the time we reached Logan Pass, rain and sleet poured down on us, we slogged through slippery snow as we persevered through family in-fighting, first with your Dad and later with my parents.
But by the time we reached St. Mary’s the skies once again cleared, the sun returned with the birth of our beautiful daughter Lauren in 1992!
That was the certainly the uphill journey of the GTTS Road as well as S&M life story.
Now into our 60s….Like reaching St. Mary’s we are “at the turn” of that same journey we began together some 40 years ago. However, we are now heading home back “down the mountain.”
During the downhill ride on GTTS Road yesterday, we felt the sun return to the Montana sky much in the same manner as how we witnessed Lauren grow into a beautiful soul these last 30 years, marry Brian the man of her dreams last year in Mexico all the while as we downsize our home/life and continue to plan our exit from working life into retirement life over these next couple years.
While there will be plenty more rainy, snowy and sunless days and sleepless nights in our immediate Life forecast, I cannot wait to continue to explore and celebrate the special love we share for each other as we continue to write our future unwritten chapters, together.
As Van Morrison sang to conclude the above referenced song.
It’s too late to stop now…..
S&M
Going to the Sun Road
Together we will continue to persevere the bad and be grateful for the good!
July 15, 2022
PS - Photos taken from our incredible adventure exploring Going To The Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana (The Last Great Place)!
“And I wanna rock your gypsy soul. Just like way back in the days of old. Then magnificently we will float. Into the mystic.” ~ Van Morrison.
Marie, during my early rise morning bike trek yesterday throughout West Glacier, I thought back to our humble beginnings.
Pedaling up Camus Road, sweating and breathing heavy (feeling the elevation gain) with beautiful scenery on my left and right. I was magically lost in my thoughts drifting back 40 years ago to our Honeymoon (weekend) spent in the Poconos in 1982. Both of us so young. Both of us so in love.
While we had no money (I was finishing college, while you worked full-time) we had something money couldn’t buy - a belief in each other.
Speaking of money….I remembered us saving our money to have a ‘proper’ Honeymoon Vacation 25 years later in Hawaii (2007).
It was our very first multiple week vacation. Fortunately, we would have many other similar (extended vacations) in the years to follow.
And now here we are another 15 years later from that amazing Tropical Adventure, alone in these four very foreign northern states, exploring our great country. Together in the Great American West!
Much like those earlier pioneers, we too have always had a fiercely independent spirit (others may call stubbornness) to do things our own way, make plenty of mistakes but in the end live the life we wanted to live. Not somebody else’s dream or journey. (See below family struggles)
Our journey has been filled with unbelievable highs and lows, incredible twists and turns much like the ones we witnessed during today’s adventure driving/exploring Going To The Sun (GTTS) Road.
Leaving Apgar Village this morning the Glacier sun was climbing high into the blue Montana summer sky. Analogous to the carefree early years of our marriage.
However, by the time we reached Heaven’s Peak heavy cloud cover rolled in as the sun vanished from the sky perhaps like when your mom and my grandparents left this earth too early. Or for those two dark years when we struggled trying to start a family.
And then by the time we reached Logan Pass, rain and sleet poured down on us, we slogged through slippery snow as we persevered through family in-fighting, first with your Dad and later with my parents.
But by the time we reached St. Mary’s the skies once again cleared, the sun returned with the birth of our beautiful daughter Lauren in 1992!
That was the certainly the uphill journey of the GTTS Road as well as S&M life story.
Now into our 60s….Like reaching St. Mary’s we are “at the turn” of that same journey we began together some 40 years ago. However, we are now heading home back “down the mountain.”
During the downhill ride on GTTS Road yesterday, we felt the sun return to the Montana sky much in the same manner as how we witnessed Lauren grow into a beautiful soul these last 30 years, marry Brian the man of her dreams last year in Mexico all the while as we downsize our home/life and continue to plan our exit from working life into retirement life over these next couple years.
While there will be plenty more rainy, snowy and sunless days and sleepless nights in our immediate Life forecast, I cannot wait to continue to explore and celebrate the special love we share for each other as we continue to write our future unwritten chapters, together.
As Van Morrison sang to conclude the above referenced song.
It’s too late to stop now…..
S&M
Going to the Sun Road
Together we will continue to persevere the bad and be grateful for the good!
July 15, 2022
PS - Photos taken from our incredible adventure exploring Going To The Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana (The Last Great Place)!
© Scott Kern