Contrast

Today there were a lot of factors leading up to my exploration.

1) I hadn't slept hardly at all the night before, which, you know, is a problem I have

2) I had a full tank of gas that was loudly calling my name

3) I needed miles of road to think and listen to music

4) I wanted to spend time with my dogs (call me crazy)

So I headed to a quaint West Texas town and a Prada "store" a friend told me about - CDs playing and the dogs riding in the back. And of course, thoughts racing.

Today I thought a lot about contrasts. I'm going to Kentucky unexpectedly this weekend to attend the funeral of one of my best friend's father-in-law. He died very suddenly of a heart attack yesterday. I will also be visiting and staying with my best friend who just had her first baby last week.

I will be celebrating life in two very different forms.

I drove through a lot of desert today and passed a lot of things traditional in the West Texas sand. Windmills, cows, fences, railroad tracks and ranch gates such as this one.

Then, out of the middle of nowhere, literally nowhere, appeared this block-shaped building with Prada written on it in boldfaced print. It's an art collection of the 2005 Prada collection situated in an unopenable building on land donated by a rancher. It's probably the single most random thing I've seen in a long time.

I pulled in and took a few pictures, wearing my jeans and cowboy (er, -girl) boots and wondered again at this contrast, these polar opposites.


Life. Death. Birth. Burial. Tonight I know that death doesn't come knocking, it charges in. I've written about death way too much this year and mourned the loss of a friend. Now I am mourning with some of those closest to me the loss of their patriarch in this seemingly unfair swing of the pendulum. Why him? Why now?


I don't understand. And I don't know what to say.


These probably aren't the thoughts most people have when they're standing in front of Prada displaying plate-glass windows. The contrast seemed fitting today, though, as I make plans...


...Plans to celebrate a life well lived and one yet to be.