Picture from a year ago today at White Sands National Park. So, that’s not snow—it’s gypsum, the mother mineral to the more famous selenite. 

It is located in Southern New Mexico, and I’ve always wanted to go. Last March, I was unexpectedly in the neighborhood, give or take a few hundred miles, and I decided to take a side trip. 

I was actually on my way to it when I received some bad news about a family member’s health. 

I paused.

A younger version of me would have immediately turned the car around and made a beeline for the emergency, and sometimes, that is exactly what is needed. 

The older version of me reviewed the actual situation and considered: this kind of emergency was a marathon, not a sprint. No one would be served by me showing up a state of panicked exhaustion, and I was only a couple hours away from a place in the world that had been calling to me for decades. 

So, I went. 

I soaked up the beauty of White Sands. I took a lot of pictures, including this one. I let myself relish an experience I’d always wanted to have. 

Then I did turn the car around and drive to the bedside of the family member whose health had rapidly declined. Even though it was a deeply painful experience, I could laugh in that room along with other family members. Actually, it was easy to do so, because I’d experienced deep joy very recently. 

So, that is what White Sands will always remind me of—not avoiding a painful situation but choosing the way I show up to it. 

The pain will come regardless, but you can bring joy to it—provided that you’ve let yourself have some of that same joy first. 

Originally posted 3/21/22.