It's Easy to Make a Friend

Meet Glenna: an old country woman who grew up on a ranch, lives alone in a log cabin home with a big green lawn, well kept, in a small town near Grand Mesa, the largest flat-top mountain in the world. She sees it every morning from her front door; every morning she also talks to her sister on the phone, who calls promptly at 5am. Glenna is a delightfully certain character, warm and with conviction.

And warmly, and with conviction, Glenna invited us into her home. This past weekend, after Tyler and I hiked around Grand Mesa and explored the towns between here and there, we met Beth's aunt as she welcomed our company. We chatted with Glenna around the kitchen table until dark, and climbed into the coziest beds in the world (beds with mattresses and lace in place of zippers and tarp).

I woke to a fast flick of the light switch and a "Rise and shine!" from our sweet host. By 5:35am, we were learning how to make her famous cinnamon rolls.

When it came time to let the dough rise and later to bake them, Tyler edged Glenna's lawn while I sanded down one side of her house that needed a fresh coat of paint. Luckily I still had the steel wool in the trunk of the car from when I thought I'd be spiffing up my bike. After biscuits and gravy, we both got to painting and in between coats, joined Glenna at her Baptist church. She was excited to have the company and introduced us to all of her friends with a big smile, and each time with a different explanation of our meeting. I'd never been to a Baptist church before; I loved the singing, which felt like patriotic karaoke (as it was the Sunday before Independence Day). I tried not to laugh when Tyler side-glanced at me for replacing "brotherhood" with "sisterhood".