leaving heaven shortly

I used to love to watch all the lights turn on in downtown Salt Lake City. All the buildings suddenly just seem to come to life, glittering and blinking in the night sky. Yesterday morning, I saw something even more amazing. Stepping outside of my dorm into the crisp snow and chilled air, I looked up and saw millions and millions of stars. Here, there aren't any of those city lights or any smog from vehicles to deprive us of the gorgeous sky. This whole week has been a week of discoveries just like that one, and everyone of those moments has made us all take a step back, lose our breath for a moment, and just barely breathe out with a "wow."

At the beginning of the week, Mr. Angelo encouraged us all to search for our "roaring" in the time we were blessed to get to spend under those twinkling stars. I found my roaring several times throughout the course of the week, but never more than today when we ascended to the top of Coyote Rock. The entire group of students from Judge took off on our Cross-Country skis and climbed. And climbed...and climbed...but the second we came over the top of the final hill, I could no longer feel the ache in my legs, or the soreness of my tailbone from falling, or even my shortness of breath. Everything, just like the amazing view, was perfect. The air was clear, the view was incredible, and as high as we were, the Tetons still towered over us in all of their majesty. Never, in the world back home where our ears are plugged by the rings of cell phones and the music blaring from our iPods, could we have ever heard the breaths of awe we all took in, or the roaring that rang through so clearly in the pristine silence.

More than anything, I've been awe-struck by the friendships I've formed with people I never would have imagined. Joe is the most encouraging person to ski with: no matter how far behind everyone else I was, he always was ready to give me an "atta girl" and let me know that all my falls were "productive falls." Billy's knowledge about everything up here is extraordinary, and he's given me lessons on the stars and been a great teammate all week. Lisa is just hysterical, and I don't know how I've lived without her making me laugh for this long! Everyone else on the trip has changed me greatly in some way, and I'm sad I don't have time to list them all...

Yesterday, our Team Steez (reppin!) leader Jill told us that she has gone without a TV for the last 10 years. When we were in the van on the way home from Yellowstone yesterday and we turned on NPR, it was so obvious why. Within a five minute listening period, we heard about the shooting at the University in Illinois and the seven deaths. It's not hard to see why Jill wouldn't want a TV...hearing about something so terrible and unthinkable after experiencing something equally as unthinkable because of it's beauty, the way our world works just doesn't always make sense. Being up here has taught us all something, but so much of it relies on having had that moment of awe yourself, that I truly hope we are able to convey to everyone the importance of conserving our world, its people, and our relationships with each other after our experiences.

We'll be home tomorrow, after a long bus ride out of heaven.

- by Lieren Stuivenvolt Allen
2008