Yesterday was my glorious gift of one more day. I savored sharing this wonderful place with my supportive and patient husband. He came here to keep me company on the long drive home, not realizing that once he was here I was home already…. But, my turn here is done and there will be a new AIR for October who will get to enjoy the cozy comforts of the casita, the marvelous park staff, and the canyon arrayed in fall splendor. I am grateful to Bandelier National Monument for having an Artist-in-Residence program, and for choosing me to be a part of it. I loved my time here. I learned much, gained a keen appreciation for what keeps a park open and welcoming to the public, and appreciate the chance I had to be part of this place.

An important component of being an AiR is to have some public-facing activities. One of the things I did was conduct some mini-workshops with park visitors. That was fun. But my favorite thing was to invite people to write something about their time here in the park and then share it. I created some prompt cards that made it easy for them to write micro-fiction or a poem to be shared and displayed in the park. I chose this because I believe that taking the time to write about a place we are in or that we visit adds a dimension that enriches our experiences. Taking pictures with a cell phone or buying a souvenir at the gift shop are good ways to remember a place, but writing connects us in a way that other things do not. Writing invites us to reflect, to think about details, like temperature or the feel of the breeze, that don’t show up in photos. I hope the writing that people did here will become part of their treasured memories, and I also hope that they will want to write more about places they go and things they experience. Here are a few of my favorite submissions:

Like it has for other visitors, the Bandelier entrance sign has disappeared from my rear-view mirror. But this month will linger in memory for a long time. It will show up in things I write, and in ways that I look at the world. The canyon is not much changed by my presence in it, but I am changed by its presence in me. Thanks for sharing my journey. And, just in case you want to do some writing of your own, here are the prompts.