Greetings from Mono Lake!

The sage was abreast.

Well, technically I don’t have breasts in this day and age, being of the male variety of the species better known as humankind, but humor me as I wain in and out of an old timey strut here.

The sage was, as mentioned afore, abreast.

Alas, to the east I was greeted by the nearly calm shimmer of Mono Lake, blinking the sun off of its salty sparkle. And westward you ask? Glaciers rounding down massive molten flavored silver mountains.

We went by dirt road to the lake. Signage indicating that tasting the waters might be warranted encouraged us, all four, to dip our fingers into the almost turquoise water.

First Wylder, ever eager to taste something of the earth, had a go. He dipped half of his entire hand in and raised it to his mouth, plunging it in fully.

“Mmm, tasty,” he didn’t say the word but I knew his thoughts. He eats dirt after all, a good amount of it. He’s two and a half.

Next came his brother Winter, nearly double his age. Reluctant, he dipped one finger in, raised it above his eyes, inspecting. He looked back to Tristan and I, reluctant. With a nod from both of us he also tried the salty mixture.

Mono Lake is some two times as salty as sea water. The park signage described it as bitter.

Tristan and the boys focusing on a stack of flies procreating, amused and just around the corner from a tufa which rendered me monetarily invisible, I tried it myself.

I admit hesitation. And I’ll dare say I liked it.

I saw myself in those waters, the boys, the way we’re all connected. Like the pile after pile of calcium that had slowly deposited to create the tufas, I could see in an instant what typically would take eons to generate.

I could see how a father could pass down his tendencies to his children. They’d gather those emotions, preferences and instincts, combine them with those of the people they’d come to love, and over time a societal evolution would arise.

It made me feel good. Good like a grand view. And immortal like a shooting star realizing that it’s end is only the continuation of a planet.

Maybe, just maybe, the start of a whole new world.