Roadtrip 2010: Part 9, Wyoming

We left Casey in Denver to fly back for her bff's wedding and Caroline and I hit the road for Wyoming. The ride itself was not actually that thrilling. Turns out most of what you drive through in Wyoming is flatness and general desert-like terrain, with some jaggedness in the distance. Beautiful in it's own sense but not much else. Caroline entertained herself by taking pictures of her I love Kale t-shirt. Yes, you read that correctly. Kale people, kale. The girl loves her kale.

We stopped at a gas station at some point (after I took a little snooze in the car because we all know Melissa Angeline can not stay awake just ridin along - this is the last time I fell asleep thank you - it was quite an accomplishment.) So anyways, we stopped at a gas station to get some gas, go to the bathroom, switch drivers, etc. I pumped while Caroline went in to use the restroom. So I'm sitting there pumping gas, checkin out Wyoming when this van drove up on the other side of the pump I was using. Out jumped this guy who pretty much threw the gas nozzle into the side of his car and ran inside. Then for the next 5 minutes or so I listened to the worst verbal abuse of two children I have ever heard in my entire life. I mean, I get it - I don't know what that mother has been through. I don't know her story. I don't know what makes someone act like that and I'm not going to pretend to understand. But the words I heard this mother speak to her children were utterly heart breaking. Things that I can't even imagine thinking, much less speaking about my inanimate shoe lying on the ground were only the tip of the iceberg in comparison to the things that she spoke over her children. Her children for crying out loud - her precious children who are innocent and are such a reflection of the Lord. Doesn't she know the power of just a single word? All I could think about was the damage being done to those poor hearts and souls, as my own was silently screaming for it to just stop. Their worth, their identity, their sense of security - shattered. I felt like my legs had been cemented into the ground. Even breathing was difficult as I listened to the injustice on the other side of the pump. I had tears in my eyes and I felt nauseous and all I could do was clinch my fists tight. My nozzle kicked off and I tore off my receipt and sat down in the driver's seat. The father came out of the gas station, jumped in his van, and they drove off. Little broken, beat-up hearts just drove off and disappeared down the road. Maybe I should have done something, I don't know. All I could mutter was a prayer for mercy and protection, for somehow grace to be shown to them, for the lies to fall on deaf ears. It rocked me hard. It's not supposed to be that way. I don't think I even told Caroline what happened until we were 30 minutes down the road. It was probably the worst moment of the trip. That sounds weird because it was all of 5 minutes just witnessing something from afar - but it was gut-wrenching and shocking and terrible. It still makes me sick to think about.

Anyways, in less disturbing news... the closer we got to the Grand Tetons the more beautiful Wyoming became. The Grand Tetons were one of my top two places we visited. I'll post pictures for you tomorrow. It just doesn't seem right to let the beauty of those mountains sit with the terrible story I just told you. So yes, the bad today - the good tomorrow. But hey, I had to get to the worst part of the trip at some point, right?