Feeling Good - The Story of Sam & Henry

Chapter 29 - City Creek

As I gave Henry the tour of my place, I pointed out the other bedroom, which currently was filled with half unpacked boxes, but which I intended to turn into a painting studio owing to the soft, bright light which streamed in from an Eastern-facing window. I encouraged him to make himself at home while I changed for our run. I dressed quickly and was not surprised to find him standing in the other bedroom, looking through one of my sketch books.

"Sam, did you do all of these?" He turned each of the pages slowly, giving himself time to take in each composition, the subject of which varied from naked female figures to vegetable detritus on a cutting board to cartoonish doodles.

"Yeah, you know, a little of this, a little of that. In my spare time, which, as you know, I have a ton of."

"Sam, these are incredible. You could sell these."

"Yes, but then it wouldn't be a hobby, it would be a job, and the best way to kill something you love is to involve money."

He nodded, apparently appreciating the truth of this statement.

"Come on," I said, "I want to kick your ass on this run."

He put the sketch book down and turned to me, giving me a knowing grin, "oh, you're on."

~~

"Sam, are you trying to kill me?" he screamed, from about ten yards behind me. Admittedly I was pushing myself even harder up this last hill, but it was fun having someone to run with and I wanted to show him that I was no pussy when it came to exercise.

"Come on slow poke! One more sprint! Come and get me!" I taunted. He sped up a little and then actually ran past me for about three strides before falling behind again. We were almost at the mile marker, so I pushed myself to power through and then lifted my arms in victory as I barreled past it, screaming and hollering like I had just finished the Boston marathon, even though we had only run three miles, albeit all up hill. We both slowed down to a jog and then after a minute, began to walk, still breathing heavy. We both looked a little red faced and sweaty, but I could tell that being outside had done us both some good. We both enjoyed the exercise and the opportunity to be away from our normal routines: for me, the confines of a hot kitchen and for him, the intensity of the cold OR.

We took a minute to stretch and then started walking back down City Creek at a leisurely pace.

"What's your favorite place that you've ever been to?" he asked as we walked side by side back down the canyon.

"I remember once going to the Grand Canyon with my whole family, including my father. It must've been right before he left, because I'm pretty sure I was 7 or 8. We'd rented a cabin somewhere on the park property and we were all kind of stuffed into two little rooms. I think we complained about it a lot at the time, but in retrospect it felt so normal, so utterly generic and like the thing a typical American family would do. Anyway, I remember one morning my Dad woke me up, just me, he'd let everyone else sleep in, and he walked with me to the edge of the canyon, which as I recall was just feet away, but I'm sure it was farther. He had wrapped me up in a blanket and we just sat and watched the sunrise over the canyon and I just remember feeling so warm and so loved and feeling overwhelmed by how.... majestic it was. It was just so incredibly beautiful.  I remember there was this bird that was flying above us just going round and round in circles. It was so quiet and still, even thinking about it now, it sort of calms me down. It reminds me of how small I am in the vastness of the Universe. I miss that feeling sometimes – that peace that you only know in childhood because you have no real obligations or worries or regrets. I'm pretty sure that he left later that year, so it's sort of the last time I remember feeling that innocent. What about you, what's your favorite place?"