If you will look behind you, it is often the best view.

Van Horn- America.

As we headed back East, my red head yelled, “Mom, can you clean the back window?” Mud clung in clumps on the glass from the caliche road we traveled down earlier that morning as the sun was rising, the road wet from the water used to farm; I was never sure what was growing down that stretch of road but it sure was green; a nice break from the dust and rainless void we seemed to have succumbed to the last few years out in West Texas.

As we waited for the wipers to smudge the dirt, I glanced in the side view mirror, then again, when the window was finally clear, into the rear, a memory, from what seemed like an eternity, zipping through my mind, but staying long enough, creating a few zig zags, like a heart monitor, rising and falling in stark contrast. Behind us, looming in the distance were the Apache, Delaware and Davis Mountains, and off to the North, in all it’s glory, Guadalupe Peak; the tallest peak in Texas.

As we drove away, the mountains chasing us, something moved inside of me, glancing back, taking a peak into time and finding hope and joy; never regret. Excitement in what lies ahead, beauty in the lessons learned, and reflection from catching a glimpse of a memory on occasion. Wounds laced with pain but more importantly, scars that heal; that jagged body art that you can look at and say “yeah, that one hurt, but let me tell you the story and the humbling moments that came from it.”

When I mentioned to family and friends that the girls and I were heading to Van Horn to see the first all female space flight, Blue Origin’s New Shepard, I had no plans on where to go or what to do, thinking, hell, it’s Van Horn, I am sure if you stand on the interstate you can see the shuttle; luckily for us, the Red Roof Inn Manager,Twilah, lives on a farm about 6 miles from the launch site. After listening to me ramble on, she graciously drew us a “non tourist,” route, on the back of a menu from the only Steakhouse in town, The Van Horn Cattle Company. The Cattle Company prices were a TREAT after paying over inflated oilfield prices for the past twelve years. Twilah stated that the main highway would be closed, which it was, as ALL the stars were in attendance; not our scene.

The next morning we followed Twilah’s recommendation, traveling about fifteen miles down a paved road then another five down a caliche farm road, we were the only souls in sight until 8:25 AM, five minutes until the launch window, when I saw dust being flung in the air over a mile away, a familiar site out West. In a few minutes, a white, single cab pickup came into view. Wedo, a local farmer who has lived in Van Horn since childhood, his lovely wife, and granddaughter, Delilah, had us follow them to what he deemed, besides his buddy’s ranch to the East, “the best spot to watch,” There, on a farm road, surrounded by fields of green crops and sheep, six people, not six hundred, three of us only meeting two minutes prior, watched history unfold.

The girls could have cared less about the space launch; they got to skip school, make friends, discover new mountains, swim in the cool water, stay in a motel and eat out; all simple pleasures of childhood. Me, I met locals, visited with strangers, listened to the stillness that came before and after the launch, felt the peace of being protected between the mountain ranges, looking forward into the open sky and an occasional glimpse into the rearview.