Old Friends 2006
Guidance

Impermanence in the Sonoran desert

Old Friends   2006
Even older, dying friends   2018

For as long as I have been coming to Desert House of Prayer, this iconic pair of saguaro cacti, affectionately called the “old friends,” have welcomed me each time I arrive. A few years ago limbs started falling off the standing giants. In 2017 it was apparent the two old friends were dying in each others’ arms.

My friend Dan, upon seeing the 2018 photo, remarked that, “There is a kind of beauty in impermanence.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, in The Art of Living, says, “Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible.”

Vincent Hanlon