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Yesterday I returned to Deming from a week-long visit to Tucson to enjoy some holiday activities with my friends. I had a wonderful time! The women who have become my friends are treasures of my heart. They are warm, nurturing, funny, and oh, so loving. I was cared for, looked after, hugged, and gifted.

And I ate - and ate - and ate...to the effect of a tummy ache that still hasn't quite gone away. I don't usually eat as often or the kinds of foods that I experienced during this visit. Every day there was something good, and plenty of it. Not a lot of sweets, except for the M&Ms I love, and the very rich chocolate dessert at the Crones luncheon. And then there was the Tucson LoWs (PuebLoWs) holiday potluck at their campout on Saturday! So now I'm trying to get back to normal.

The timing of my visit couldn't have been better as several events lined up, including a free dance on Monday night at Rincon Country RV Resort, my former 'home'. We had snacks instead of dinner, and margaritas...yum! And I danced, even. I got to say hello to folks I knew there, and wish them happy holidays. Fun.

In a medium such as this blog it is difficult for me to write about my deep feelings about the week's meaningful chapter in my life book. I am continuing to savor the very special moments with these friends - friends I probably would not have made if Doc were still with me. But I can't know that for certain because I was feeling the need to connect with other women before he became ill. Anyway, the sharing with my friends was deep, and added a richness to my life. I am grateful.

Additionally, I am grateful for the ability to observe. Have you ever called one of those numbers on the back of a semi that asks "How's my driving?"? Well, yesterday I did. As I came onto I-10 in Tucson I was 'allowed' to enter from the ramp, as a semi truck moved over. However, he pulled up beside me, and then, with his signal on, proceeded to pull over, before he was fully in front of me. I slowed down to keep from getting clipped. Just a few miles down the road, with a string of cars in the left lane, passing this same truck, he pulled right over, into the cars' lane, forcing them to 'make room' so he could pass the slower vehicle in front of him. I don't know if he was just a new driver, making some mistakes, or if he was intentionally trying to intimidate other drivers. He was traveling with another truck from the same company, so I'm thinking maybe he was new. But, when I stopped for a bite to eat, I placed a call and left my information.

Later, down the road, there was another truck that passed me, and later, as I began to pass him, he sped up. As he did so, I noticed the 'humming' of a tire that didn't sound right. Since he wasn't going to let me by him, I backed off, and pulled into the right lane. Then I looked at the back of his truck and I noticed that the inner left tire was wobbling, and also losing tread. So I backed off further in case that thing blew rubber all over the road. Within several minutes that tire disintegrated and blew, just as another truck approached in the passing lane. I was ever so grateful that I had seen the difficulty and took action to avoid trouble. There was debris all over the road that was challenging to negotiate; the truck finally pulled over several miles down the road.

On another note, today I began working in the Low-Hi RV Ranch office in exchange for my site. I learned that they can only have one person in the office during slow months, so at the end of January I'm back to paying rent...until maybe March when they start gearing up for the spring rally in April. Today I also spoke with the Chief Park Ranger at Chaco Canyon, where I put an application, and it looks promising that I will be camp host and site monitor there for several months, beginning in the spring. I think it will be awesome to be in Chaco for the Summer Solstice and my birthday which are usually very close together!!! I will find out more in January.

Day Break

I used to think that my life would always be the same, as day after day I did the same things, kept to the same routine. Then something happened, and one day I began to wake up and grow up. Now I enjoy the beauty of the changes from one day to another.

Since coming to Deming, I have enjoyed the company of men and women who 'roam' - they come and go, make connections and then move on. Yesterday several rigs left, heading to Tucson and points further west. The park began to feel empty, and my heart began to feel the space where some of these folks had been allowed to enter while they were here.

Yet, as I move about within the flow of the community, I'm beginning to recognize folks out in other areas of the town. For example, yesterday I went with an RVer friend for breakfast. As we were leaving the restaurant, a couple I recognized from the Friday night dances at the VFW entered. I said hello and said I recognized them. We made introductions and then went about our business. Later in the afternoon my friend and I went to the weekly 'jam session' at the art center. And would you believe, the same couple was there, and we then recognized each other again! Of course, some of the LoW group was also present, so I entered conversations with a couple of them with whom I'd not really chatted before.

One of my 'new' acquaintances is involved in a nationwide "grandmothers" group - as in the native tradition of grandmothers. We had quite a conversation. The next meeting is going to be at her house in January, and I will be included in the group because I'm interested in that sort of thing. As it happened I was wearing a T-shirt that had the logo of a Colorado powwow on it. When I went to the counter to get a bottle of water the lady noticed my shirt, and our conversation began. She is of native heritage, from Iowa, and there is going to be a gathering (powwow) of the Iowa group of natives who have settled here in February. I asked if this was going to be a closed gathering, and let her know I would be honored to be invited - I do have Iowa ancestors buried there...I gave her my card with my phone number. Perhaps someone will call.

Today I was asked to accompany a very older - very cute - man to Silver City tomorrow to go to the VA. We danced together on Friday night, and our companions thought it was 'so cute'. Anyway, he's a person who lives at the park permanently and we'd only had a passing 'hello' until just recently.

The weather today was rough - it blew at about 35 mph all day, and we had thunderstorms and downpours all day. It was colder than it has been, so most folks were hunkered down in their RVs. I went outside to check on some areas of the trailer where I heard rattles from the wind blowing, to make sure everything was still secure. To my surprise there was this wonderful, full arc of a rainbow. I couldn't get it all into my camera, but I just had to try to get a good shot. So beautiful.

So I've been meeting surprises everyday, and I've been enjoying them. I used to hate surprises - they seemed to always be of the negative sort. I think I'm getting over that idea.