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.