THE WINTER OF ’24

It’s been a while since I posted Part II of “Chiapas”. Like everything I’ve ever written, ‘Chiapas ~ Part III’ has a life of it’s own and will post when it has fully revealed itself to me. I take solace with the notion that maybe one day many years from now there’ll be those who will read these stories and be entertained, informed, even take comfort from them. Just for today though I continue in these efforts if for no other reason than to redeem the hours as time goes by. 

This is the first winter in ten years that I’ve remained in Northern New Mexico. I moved here from Los Angeles in 2007. For most of my life I had lived in Southern California. There, one doesn’t experience what winter means to the majority of peoples in North America and Eurasia. But after many cold, snowy winters in the southern Rockies I wanted out. As such I took every opportunity to migrate south and west during each passing autumn. Then with every succeeding spring ‘the land of enchantment’ would call me back. Both the land and the people here seem to correspond with my childhood aspirations of living in ‘the old west’. Enchantment is a good word to characterize these parts.

Birthdays are another thing. Ever since I turned 30 for some reason the ‘decade’ ones have unnerved me. 40, 50, 60 and 70 seemed like out-of-body experiences. In about three weeks I’ll observe my 80th and like a lot of people I feel much younger, as though I were still in my forties. That is until I see myself in a mirror. Yikes! However, I have enjoyed robust health and grand enthusiasms through all these decades. So there’s that. Oh and by the way, I’ve found that at 31, 41, 51, 61 and 71, it was just another day… with no drama. Like a fella said, “With all it’s sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”