Dropped our gear off at the campsite. Noticed MarySusan and Paul’s tent was collapsed and what appeared to be a bedroll down the west slope of the campsite. I figured they must’ve popped it down due to the wind, and were hiding the bedroll from passerby. This didn’t make too much sense, but it was the best explanation I could come up with.

Lunch at Jersey Mike’s. Why eat somewhere you could eat in Alabama? Cause it’s quick and familiar.

$30 for Bud Light and Pabst “high point” at the state store.

Off to WinCo for camp eats. Huge. Lots of bulk options. Unfortunately no time. Father of the bride calls – 15 min. Left cart full of mid-rats (midnight rations) next to customer service. Sad face.

Arrived 5 minutes after posted start. Not started. Mother of the bride is not impressed with us.

Extraordinary young man in white shirt, black pants. Over-the-top helpful.

Water, napkins and bug spray for party favors. Very intuitive.

Almost unbearable heat in the sun, reasonable in the shade. Sun, hot. Shade, comfy.

Wonderful service. Handwrapping ceremony is different, but surprisingly spiritual. Shouldn’t have been surprised, considering the bride and grooms obvious spiritual connection.

Reception was easy, nice, and familiar. Familiar in the intimate sense.

An extraordinary young man in white shirt, black pants, wanted nothing to do with turkey on his sammich.

I was relieved from the sandwich station and was graciously released from clean up duty. We left to get Christian and Summer from their hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.

This was my first time in Salt Lake proper. I was astonished at the number of homeless around and in the streets. Also disappointed in the lack of a view to the mountains. The notion of not being able to see the mountains from the hotel room hurt a little.

After rushing them into the car we drove right back up to the reception.

Coming down and going up the mountain, at every turn, the view was new and special.

Everyone got to see the bride, dressed finer and looking more beautiful than most goddesses.

While packing up their cars in the parking lot, she and her groom listened to big band music and sang some Tommy Dorsey song to each other.

High above the parking lot, one or two lone boulders, sitting on time worn pinnacles of dirt, looked down on the merriment. I told Summer that for 10s of thousands of years that one rock has been waiting for her. She was not impressed.

Back at camp, disaster. They had not, in fact, popped their tent down and thrown their bedrolls over the slope – some malevolent asshats had been through, destroying the tent and ransacking the bedrolls. They stole chairs, a single flip-flop, and the canopy that held the tent together.

My friends heart was broken. I was astonished someone could be that simply mean. The chairs had actual value, but the canopy without the tent is pretty useless, and there’s no real reason other than simple meanness to take a single flip-flop.

Its always seemed to me that universe gives us wonderful things, but sometimes it takes things away. I’m not talking about karma where good things and bad things eventually even out into a karmic neutral. When I look around, from my perspective, most humans have everything they need, materialistically. They also have a whole bunch of what they want (a very different thing) and a lot of that is pretty nice. So the universe can be pretty generous, but occasionally it’ll take things away from you, and sometimes those things can be pretty important; or just important to us.

Ultimately the flip-flop, tent, and chairs can be replaced. Unfortunately the chairs had some sentimental value. She spent time decorating them with love, kindness, and now they’re lost to hoodlums who will never appreciate them they way she did.

But the day was beautiful, the wedding was touching, and canyon stood timeless above us.

The universe gives, the universe takes away.

For instance…

Due to my own lack of understanding the situation, my children had to leave to go back to the hotel. Logistics dictated that they would have to leave before the fire was even lit.

The universe gives, the universe takes away.

I became selfish and angry, which set off a chain reaction of poor behavior, mostly on my part. Tears were shed, hard feelings fermented, cemented.

But I got them on their way and then headed back to camp.

Now, the entire time I was planning this adventure, camping was the number one thing I wanted to do with my kids. I wanted to be under the stars and in front of the fire with them, playing guitar, enjoying camp food and fellowship.

And there I sat, a fifth wheel in another family’s adventure and my family in disarray. It seemed, sadly, this was a hallmark of my family’s name.

We still had a good time, but I truly missed my kids. I mean, to repeat, that was the number one, the impetus, of the entire trip.

But we had no idea. In general, we never really know whats around the next bend, up the next canyon, over the next mountain. We have expectations, wants, needs, desires, hopes. But theres no way we can know, no way to see next. No matter how diligent, thorough. our plan.

I am very appreciative of my friends, and I truly do see them as family. But just as a sister may plan a function with her family, her spouse and kids, intended for her family, arranged to accommodate her family, if her brother dragged his family, spouse and kids into it, may not work. When you create a specific dish using one flavor profile, it generally doesn’t work to add in something from a different flavor profile.

So the ribs were good, the beer flowed, and lifes secrets, universal truths, revealed to us under the stars.

Should I have gone on back to the hotel? Maybe. Or maybe the universe intended for my navigator to have a night by herself, whether she wanted one or not.

I lost time watching embers and Jerry Garcia riffs float into the night. At some point I excused myself and retired to the tent. I heard the father of the bride snoring, the mother cussing him for it, and felt the cold mountain air flow over my sleeping bag.

I missed my navigator and my best man. As I drifted in and out I wondered if I’d done the right thing staying. I got up to pee somewhere in the wee hours, and after shivering back into my bedroll it occurred to me it was supposed to happen like this. And the cosmos didnt care whether I liked it or not.

As I drifted back into the backside of my brain, I also realized I had some apologies to deliver tomorrow.