December 29, 2008
Day two on the road, soon there will be no counting, at least not until we lament the last days of our journey and the final countdown back to the wonderful world we left for wandering’s sake.
We arrived in Roswell, New Mexico this afternoon with warmer weather, calmer nerves, and fewer noises that shake us like turbulence in a plane. We are learning our RV slowly but surely and what all she’s capable of. We have yet to name this Toyota Dolphin of ours, though we know when the moment is right it will come to us, like the name Rosie for our pot bellied stove that warms us throughout the winter months in our cozy little straw bale home we’ve spent the last several years building.
It’s one of the reasons for wandering as we’ve worked so hard getting our place livable. It was time for a break for us both from building, and it was time for us also to delve deeper into our relationship now already on its 5th year. As we struggle to learn how to make a fridge work off of one of three different energy types, how to make the camper run off solar, and how to live in a 20 foot space together, we are also learning how to make our communicating through the tense moments less combative and more supportive, a task we have managed while building often with the help of an easel and an oversized notepad. When you don’t have the language skills to communicate what you are struggling to construct, we’ve found drawing out or individual ideas helps us visualize what the other is thinking.
I wanted to bring it on the trip, but I was informed a regular sized notepad will have to suffice. While I agree, I’ll miss the Pictionary form of communication we’ve relied on so frequently to weather our interlocutionary storms.
We have settled in for the night at our first RV campsite, situated next to a “bottomless lake” in Roswell where I’m convinced this houses alien anthropologists who are watching us take the planet to the brink of destruction. We must be quite a species to observe; how do they not intervene? Perhaps they are merely awaiting the moment to take over the planet once we’ve demonstrated beyond a doubt that we’re incapable of caring for it properly. Who knows? Regardless, we were greeted at our site by two great horned owls woo’ing back and forth to each other. It was amazing to see them just above us on the red rocks lit up by the setting sun. The sunset was spectacular in all its orange glory, especially as it laid its head to rest on the peaceful surface of the still water beside us. Off in the distance one mountain provided a shadow looming large in the sky. Hand in hand we walked along the edge, my fisher man watching with baited breath the tiny swells that would magically appear out of nowhere. While he dreams of fishing these waters come morning, I know I have already caught the love of my life and will be waking up next to him for the next 8 months in a row, something I haven’t been able to do in several years now.
I am happy. I am grateful for ALL that I have.
Day two on the road, soon there will be no counting, at least not until we lament the last days of our journey and the final countdown back to the wonderful world we left for wandering’s sake.
We arrived in Roswell, New Mexico this afternoon with warmer weather, calmer nerves, and fewer noises that shake us like turbulence in a plane. We are learning our RV slowly but surely and what all she’s capable of. We have yet to name this Toyota Dolphin of ours, though we know when the moment is right it will come to us, like the name Rosie for our pot bellied stove that warms us throughout the winter months in our cozy little straw bale home we’ve spent the last several years building.
It’s one of the reasons for wandering as we’ve worked so hard getting our place livable. It was time for a break for us both from building, and it was time for us also to delve deeper into our relationship now already on its 5th year. As we struggle to learn how to make a fridge work off of one of three different energy types, how to make the camper run off solar, and how to live in a 20 foot space together, we are also learning how to make our communicating through the tense moments less combative and more supportive, a task we have managed while building often with the help of an easel and an oversized notepad. When you don’t have the language skills to communicate what you are struggling to construct, we’ve found drawing out or individual ideas helps us visualize what the other is thinking.
I wanted to bring it on the trip, but I was informed a regular sized notepad will have to suffice. While I agree, I’ll miss the Pictionary form of communication we’ve relied on so frequently to weather our interlocutionary storms.
We have settled in for the night at our first RV campsite, situated next to a “bottomless lake” in Roswell where I’m convinced this houses alien anthropologists who are watching us take the planet to the brink of destruction. We must be quite a species to observe; how do they not intervene? Perhaps they are merely awaiting the moment to take over the planet once we’ve demonstrated beyond a doubt that we’re incapable of caring for it properly. Who knows? Regardless, we were greeted at our site by two great horned owls woo’ing back and forth to each other. It was amazing to see them just above us on the red rocks lit up by the setting sun. The sunset was spectacular in all its orange glory, especially as it laid its head to rest on the peaceful surface of the still water beside us. Off in the distance one mountain provided a shadow looming large in the sky. Hand in hand we walked along the edge, my fisher man watching with baited breath the tiny swells that would magically appear out of nowhere. While he dreams of fishing these waters come morning, I know I have already caught the love of my life and will be waking up next to him for the next 8 months in a row, something I haven’t been able to do in several years now.
I am happy. I am grateful for ALL that I have.
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