I made a Box of Rain in 1995 … a love story

Some of my favorite Robert Hunter lyrics ….
“
Just a box of rain
Wind and water
Believe it if you need it
If you don't, just pass it on
“

Cleaning out the closet in our bedroom, today, my wife found many items of fond memory. One of them was the Box of Rain that I made for her in Colorado in 1995.

In June of 1995, I had a business trip to Denver from NY. Had read many reviews of the Amtrak trip heading west from Denver over the Rockies - with the glass sightseeing roof and the majesty of the views whilst the train did right to left switchbacks, curling and climbing up the majestic mountains. It was rated the most scenic train trip in America.

Booked my business trip to the Denver Convention Center with an extra free day to take that scenic train ride.  It would have been perfect to take that 3 1/2 hour ride whilst smoking a few bowls as the diesel pulled us up from the Great Plains to the lower sky, but that would not be in the cards in 1995 OR 2019. Getting arrested will put the damper on a vacation day every time.
 
Strategizing with a friend before the flight to CO, he suggested that brownies were the way to go.  Inspired  thinking, said I.  But I have never cared for brownies - even as a kid….. too dense. I tend toward light and fluffy.  In that context, I love Devil’s Food cake!

Betty Crocker was do-able even with my limited baking skills .. and Tupperware was my friend (until the train). The 2nd stop west from Denver was at the mountain top in Steamboat Springs, CO.

Climbing and chugging up, curling back and forth climbing the Rockies was majestic and perfect. Due to my research, I knew exactly where to sit on the train for the prime scenic experience. An hour into the journey, I opened the plastic bag within the Tupperware for some attitude adjustment, and the whole car was instantly filled with the virtual aromatic marriage of Betty Crocker to Bob Marley. I was rather horrified, but undaunted.

Two plus hours, and 4 Devils Food cupcakes later (Beloved NJ Mother: Betty Crocker had never been so kind to me with YOUR cupcakes..…) , and with the train car infused with the scent of electric lettuce and baked chocolate, I departed the train at Steamboat Springs CO.

Twilight Zone time:  There was no one there. Deserted. Ghost town. Nada. Zilch.

There was a row of shops - likely busy in ski season, but dark and closed on a June Thursday.

6 hours til the next train back to Denver.What to do for 6 hours???

As George Harrison (The Beatles) put it best:
<<<
I ate it and at once my eyes could see you
No sooner had I ooped it down
I felt so far off from the ground I stood on

My legs they seemed to me like high-rise buildings
My head was high up in the sky
My skin the sun began to fry like bacon
>>>

My fourth wedding anniversary had been just a week before and I was missing my wife and stepson. The song Box of Rain was in my head and I still had the gallon baggie which had kept the special cupcakes double sealed within the Tupperware.

I spent part of the next 6 hours collecting nature from that remote mountain top - fossils and leaves, rocks and natural items unique to the SoWest USA - and also filled the baggie with CO mountaintop water. Back in Denver, that night, I arranged the nature specimens within the water filled baggie as an artistic presentation framed within a small rectangular box.

Brought that Box of Rain home to my dear wife to let her know that my extra day away from her and our stepson had been spent thinking of them.

Lisa kept the gift. That box ended up tucked in a corner of the bedroom closet, together with other special heirlooms and memories.

She found it today. A love letter from the past from me to her.

<<<
And it's just a box of rain
I don't know who put it there
Believe it if you need it
Or leave it if you dare

And it's just a box of rain
Or a ribbon for your hair
Such a long long time to be gone
And a short time to be there
>>>