Tag: newmexico

Onward Part II

Sometimes I think, how did I do It? Live in “isolation” i.e. in a rural land, 50 minutes away from a Whole Foods,(GASP) these past 6 months. But really, my soul needed it. My body. My heart. My brain..needed it. Sometimes we don’t know what our Selves need for nourishment because we’ve been so busy — Building, competing, looking down, purchasing, fighting, comparing, fixing, over serving, and yes, for many, just trying to survive  — That we haven’t been open to life’s other invitations. They arrive in whispers, most of the time. 

I have come to understand more and regard, not just my Valdez roots/DNA here, but feel into all those, whose land, this first belonged to. Or shall I say, that which was beheld and honored by, taken care of, and lived by. It was a way; a way in which we have lost. I have had my breath taken away on more than one occasion as I’ve driven the open roads, climbed mountains and gazed into infinite desert space/color. Colors that brought me to tears. Light that wiped them away. I will miss the sage brush rolling in the winds, talking to the Ravens and all those other birds that made their way inside my home. Haha. Animals come to know us…you know?!? 

I will miss the classic cars, mostly the trucks. The lift of a couple fingers off the wheel or a nod of a cowboy’s hat, to say “hello.” I see you. How do you do? I will miss the warmth of people here — at the gas station, the DMV,(yup!) the Co-op,Taco line, and in the Starbucks drive thru; especially the later. I have so enjoyed our brief and sweet life conversations. I will miss random hikers and will never forget being given an apple and a bar from a woman on her way back down the mountain and to the young man in the air force, I had the honor of climbing the last bit up with. I will miss the Post Office woman and no lines. Hah!  I will miss the music, sometimes on a Friday evening, of one of my neighbors — Some country. Other times, Mexican Blues. 

With that said, I feel there will be no shortage of music in Louisiana. 

Be well.

Knowledge

My best knowledge has come from being in the world. From my patients the past twenty years. From community, villages, cities other than the one I was born. Beyond the walls of North America and within. However, mostly from “outsiders.”

I’ve been educated by children. Yes, children. Ironically, I feel the West needs to grow up. I’ve been nourished by different colors, points of view; families full and rich with love. Ritual. My schooling came beyond states of emergency and from facing my own fears. Lessons mostly arrived from Mother Nature. I’ve learned from others’ dream, sorrows, and overwhelming generosity. Dancing, celebrating, eating together regardless of our complexities. And just because — We are Human. Humans with tremendous capacity for intimacy, respect and joy.

Yes, books are beautiful and bountiful and just plain orgasmic, sometimes. But not a thing has made me more FULL and knowing than direct communion with that, that I AM. And sometimes that is an old gas station for yours and my, viewing pleasure.