Went time travelling yesterday. Visited the Chisos Mountains. Tried to imagine what it was like when that first hot vent opened up and out popped hot rock, lava. Then it was a hard fast forward, watching 15,000-foot-tall piles of it form, only to then watch wind and water whittle them down to their current state of about 7,00 feet. That’s a big pile of rock and dirt for nature to be moving around so casually.

Of course, we have the benefit of hindsight to know eventually what happened but in real time it was probably a big mystery as to what in world was going on and why were these big land masses floating around and bumping into one another anyway. Talk about mysterious. But I guess that’s the lot in life for any life form, you’re here, earth is there, and you operate on separate timescales. I think the message there is to have fun and make the best of it because we’re not out waiting mother earth.

Anyway, my little brush with the entire geologic adventure was pleasant. I had a beer and a brat while we sat and watched the mountains get smaller. You might think it tedious work, but there was a cool breeze and clear skies. As we left, the mountains paid us little mind because they’ll be there well after I’m a pile of dust. Still, now that I’ve been there, I imagine I’ll go back because it might be nice to walk around and see them up close and personal.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale