I have written about the special places here.  The desert.  The mountains.  They are all special to me.  Places of my youth.  Memories of archeological finds with my Dad, hunting trips with buddies, photographs made in my youth when the science was still magic and inspiration was there with every blink of my eyes.  All special, all wonderful to come back to.

But there is one place.  “The” one place that is above all in my mind and in my heart.

I am spending the day here, wandering the canyons.  On the map, in the tourist guides and on the list of properties overseen by the Department of the Interior, it is known as the Colorado National Monument.  Growing up it was just the Monument.

I would wake up to the view of this natural wonder every morning growing up.  From my 4th grade year at Broadway Elementary thru my high school graduation and into college, my bedroom window framed this living masterpiece.  This place, these canyons, this Monument truly is home.

I came here a year and a half ago, quite literally at the lowest point of my life, heart destroyed and spirit broken.

I came here and stood in the snow on the rim of this amazing chasm, a wind blown painting.  At that moment, with my dearest friend holding my hand, I realized my journey was about to begin.  With the turmoil in my life, the doubt, the uncertainty, the overwhelming weight of depression, I found something I thought I had lost forever.

Hope

And the journey began.

I can not describe this place.  Not only because words can not begin to do justice to the awe inspiring grandeur of this place, especially with my meager words.  I can not describe it because it is beyond a visual affair for me.  Not here.  This place is sacred to my heart.  It is a spiritual place for me.  Beyond description, beyond words.

Here, where I spent so much time developing my love and passion for my art.  Here, where I roamed the rim and into the canyons with childhood friends.  Here, where I stood that cold January day asking why my life had been destroyed.

Here.  Where I found strength, I found direction, I found conviction, I found hope again.

Here.

Where I found my soul again.

I am home.