D is for..........

D is for..........Desert.

I fell in love with the desert in 1997. Friends of mine were living in Tucson, and Meg and I came down to visit during Spring Break. By the time we left, we had Arizona teaching licenses.....just in case.

I remember Meg and I looking at each other one winter day, and there were no words necessary. We moved to the desert in 1999, and my love for the desert has only grown.

Sunsets are beautiful everywhere, but it's hard to beat a desert sunset. Tucson is in a valley, surrounded by mountains. I love the colors in the mountains as the sun sets. I wish I had a better picture, but my photography skills leave something to be desired. Somehow the colors seem different every time, each sunset painting its own unique picture (channeling my inner Bob Ross here).

The Sonoran Desert is the only place in the world with sahuaro cactus. I remember being in awe the first time I went over Gates Pass, sahuaros as far as the eye could see. The Sahuaro National Forest taught me that my Midwestern image of a forest was severely limited.  Sahuaros miraculously bloom in the heat of the desert summer and then bloat with monsoon rain. I feel fortunate to have a number of sahuaros in my yard, each green obelisk standing sentinel, arms infinitesimally growing to better protect us.

The desert is home to a unique array of animals. I'll never forget the first night I heard a pack of coyotes somewhere just beyond my backyard, a dissonant combination of yelping and laughter. Our yard attracts just about every type of desert animal you can imagine, from rattlesnakes to roadrunners. Our most frequent visitors are the javelinas. We see them all the time, but it never gets old. I mean, look at these guys!

I had a moment of grace recently. Standing in my backyard in the light of a full moon, the smell of citrus in the air, I knew it for sure. The desert is now in my skin.