White Sands, New Mexico

I had another one of those days: a day when every single stress-influencing thing in my life disappeared; a day where I was 10 years old again. I had another one of those days where I didn’t have to make any single conscious effort to smile, or laugh, or remember to breathe. Life can get heavy- full of papers with numbers that say you owe this much. Full of messages with words that make you revisit distant pasts that just weren’t the best. My girlfriends and I have talked about a few of these heavy days. We have all gone through loving and losing, some sort of heartbreak, some sort of not being enough emotion. Well, on this day we said fuck it. On this day we played. We did cartwheels. We sled down sand dunes and we laughed.

I am lucky enough to have an incredible job. On top of that I have even more amazing friends and coworkers. Analeise, my roommate, Laura, and myself rented a car in El Paso on a layover. We didn’t exactly know where we were going to go for the day, but we were on a hunt for an adventure. We made our way to White Sands in Alamorgodo, New Mexico.

The first time I visited was years ago on a family vacation. It was winter time and we wore hoodies to the dunes. Although we didn’t sled that time, we took many photos and saw the sky change through time. On this visit, however, we made certain to rent sleds for the occasion Let’s just say, this experience was 10/10 would recommend. Naturally, being us, we automatically chose the steepest dunes (as per recommendation from the nice lady at the renting desk) to slide down for the first try. This was the result of a wonderful day:

After White Sands, we made our way to a giant Pistachio. Literally. I even called the number on the back of the brochure and asked, “where exactly is the giant pistachio located?” Apparently I wouldn’t miss it and we didn’t.

At the end of our road trip into New Mexico, I showed the girls my favorite skiing town of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Unfortunately all the cute shops closed at 5PM, but we managed to witness the last of the sunset over the lake behind the Inn of the Mountain of the Gods. Normally I see it frozen over and proceed to break it apart by throwing huge rocks onto it, however, this time it was peacefully swaying with the chilly mountain wind. It will be winter soon and the entire area will be covered in snow and ice. The ski resort will open and the city will be bustling with seasonal tourists. I highly recommend a visit to these destinations, yes, even the giant pistachio.

Life does not need to be heavy. This brilliant day was everything but heavy. It was full of innocence and life. It was light and playful. It was memorable and creative. It was just what I needed to remember that hey, I’m not supposed to have all my shit figured out just now- or ever. I have time. And I am going to use that time to be free, to laugh, to slide down more sand dunes, and to visit as many places as I can with people who inspire me live more freely. I hope you do the same, dear friends.

Mary

(Iphone)