A Terrible Beauty

   We took a little road trip last week to visit family. We have this uncanny knack of going to a city at
the wrong time when they inevitably have a huge EVENT of some kind that effectively wipes out all
motel/hotel rooms.

   The long and short of it was we ended up staying in a minus three star motel. (Yes, I wrote that
correctly -3*) I won't mention the city, I won't even mention the hotel by name, but it was clear
it was on life support. Thankfully, I brought a jar of cleaning wipes and tidied up the toilet and sink.
I will also state that it would have been given -4* but the people were so nice and earnest, a family
run business, and they were trying hard. And surprisingly, they had thick, beautiful bath towels.
  
See? I am trying to find something nice to say.
  
  While on the way to the city, we passed through a small town that was in some sort of valley limbo.
The skies were filled with horrid acrid smoke that burned our eyes. Even though the forest fires were
not particularly close, the winds had carried the stench to this town, permeating everything. I could
hardly breathe. We pulled into a gas station and I spotted the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile! It looked

to be in showroom condition, it was awesome! As a vegetarian, I was incensed! Haha! Not really! It made me smile. I remember how my kids loved seeing it when they were little. I snapped some pics of that and also snapped a picture of the sun, trying valiantly to shine in spite of the smoke.

    As we continued on our journey, we noticed the beautiful sunsets, due to the wretched forest/brush fires. I described it to someone as a terrible beauty. What I meant was the circumstances were horrible, but the results were incredible. The colors, the purples/oranges/reds looked like they were applied by an artist, but oh, at such a frightening cost. People lost their homes, some lost their lives. The fire costs of damage and personnel were catastrophic. We were on one highway where there was a convoy of fire vehicles, each marked with a different small town's name, headed into the fray.
  
I think of those circumstances in our lives where we also encounter a Terrible Beauty. Those dichotomies that are the polar opposite of each other. The situations that threaten to knock us down and at the same time build us up. The health scare that causes us to treasure life and each other more.
  
   The close call that completely blindsides us but causes us to gather strength we never knew we had.
The joy we find in the smallest of improvements when the unthinkable has occurred.

   Today I ran into an acquaintance that had the Unthinkable happen. We were on the road when we found out about what had happened to this family and I just didn't know what to say. So I just threw my arms around her and said, "How are you doing? How you must be hurting!" She fell into my arms and sobbed. She said "No one asks me that, they turn and look away. I know they think I am a horrible mom and forget I am hurting too." Wow. That took my breath away. Here I was thinking what could I possibly say? And I just wanted to pretend I didn't see her out of embarrassment. I am so glad I didn't! We spoke for 45 minutes and I told her to hold her head up high. No matter what you do, people will talk and spread rumors, but fortunately, they forget quickly. This became another moment of Terrible Beauty. Though we are not particularly close, I think she held her head a little higher when we parted. I hope I was able to impart some hope into her life. She made me realize we need to do the uncomfortable thing sometimes, it's not always about "us".

   And now for some humor injected into this deep meaning blog. We were waiting to meet up with my brother and so we went off to find some food one day on the trip. We found a mall nearby to where we were meeting him and there were several choices.
    A Waffle Restaurant that served lunch. A Panda Express and a NY style deli. We figured the waffles were not ideal and Panda was not the best choice for DH and probably no choice for me, so we looked at the deli menu on the window and were excited to see some yummy choices that also included old favs (knishes) and some veggie options too. We went inside and it reminded me of NYC and the hustle and bustle. There were so many yummies listed that my mouth just watered.

   As we tried in vain to figure out a choice (one sandwich? two? soup? salad?) the gentleman next to us got his order. I almost fell off my chair. It was so ginormous, that it could have fed an entire family. Fortunately, it helped us make a decision. (One veggie sandwich, split. One Knish order, split instead of a large sandwich each.) Here is the picture of the before and after. The gentleman kindly posed for me. He Ate The Whole Thing. I saw it with my own eyes!   

  
  

    He said I should have taken a picture of his belly Before and After. I was laughing so hard! How could anyone eat that entire thing???? That grimace!  "Did I really just eat that entire thing?"

   Saw this on a train side car. I like to call this one INYO FACE. I named it after that sandwich!

   Go find some beauty in the awful-est of circumstances. Also look for the humor. It can keep you sane!