Summer actually started out pretty great.
My best friend was visiting from out of state. She wanted to go to southern Utah to see Zion National Park. My husband and son went with us. This was probably going to be the closest thing that we were going to have to a summer vacation.
But, my son has never been a very cooperative traveler. And, it was just about one week after he had commenced from rehab. We were still unsure of how the summer was going to go with him and now we were going on a 4 day trip. I was a little nervous about how he was going to act on the trip.
My older son had an idea. He thought that we should try giving him a camera so that he could take his own pictures of the scenery. We spent about as much as we thought we could afford at the time and bought him a Fuji Fine Pix camera. We gave it to him when we arrived at the Bumbleberry Inn in Springdale, Utah just outside Zion National Park. He actually seemed excited about it. I was so glad.
The next morning, our first adventure was horseback riding inside the park. My son called it horse sitting. He said that next time we ride horses he wants to do more than just sit on a horse as it follows the horse in front of it. Next time? Wow. He went from being adamant that this trail ride was going to be lame to talking about the next time he rides horses.
It was unbelievable. We were having a good time and he was enjoying himself. As my husband and I were walking behind him, toward the end of the day, I said, “This day with him has been like pure joy. It makes me want to cry and it makes me want it to never end. We haven’t had a day like this for a long time and I don’t know when we will have another one.”
He was having such a good time, and was so agreeable and fun to be around that I felt like we had been given a great gift. I wanted to cherish every second of it.
The next day was good, too. We went to some incredible water-falls where my son hiked around taking pictures of the falls from all different angles. He got even more into taking pictures than he did the day before. He hiked and climbed all over the rocks and had a really great time.
After the trip he showed his pictures to several people. Everyone loved them and he realized that he had a natural photography talent.
He became determined that he would become a professional photographer. Every weekend, he asked us if we could go hiking somewhere else so that he could take more pictures.
It was so awesome to see him with a goal and with a new outlook on the possibilities of life.My son--the photographer.
My son—looking forward to the future.
My son—happy.
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