We're moving, hopefully, on April 20th. We've lived in this
town for about 5 years. We've made friends, been part of the
community, sold things at the farmers market, gotten our
kids involved, and generally tried to act as if we were
going to live here forever. When we started in this area, I
think that is what we thought.
In the hallway at my grandmother's house, there hangs a
photo of my great-grandmother. She's already old by this
time, with deep wrinkles and drooping eyelids, but her
smile is radiant and her thin hair is still jet-black. It's
a candid photo, of her sitting at a table if I remember
properly. The photo has been hanging there for many years;
my grandmother is over 90, my great-grandmother has long
since passed.
To me, she always looked like what I think a Gypsy would
look like. For this and other reasons, I've always told
people that I have "Gypsy blood," and that is why I am
quasi-nomadic. It was, perhaps, a dream that I would want to
stay here. But I'm glad I thought that way, because it let
me connect with people.
It may be that people are wonderful everywhere. Certainly,
everywhere that I've been, I've enjoyed the people. But
they are different in different areas; culture, tradition,
government, and even weather seem to change the way people
are when considered as groups. I lived in France for a
while, and I used to wonder why there were shutters on every
window. I don't know for sure what the history is there, but
someone once told me that part of the reason for the way the
french people behaved was because they had been occupied by
German forces in WWII. I thought a lot about how that would
change the way people would feel and think. I think it might
have something to do with the shutters, and even with the
way they view foreigners. Even so, I found them to be warm,
friendly, and wonderful.
The people here in Lakeside Arizona are warm, a little
boisterous at times, and perhaps a little crazy. It's still
the "wild west" out here, in a lot of ways. You find a lot
of history in the people you meet, people who's families
have been in the area for generations. I met a fellow who's
grandfather built the dam at the lake that I love to fish
at, and I made friends with the man who developed our
subdivision- as a kid, he drove cattle to the corral that
used to be just south of my bedroom window.
We really did treat this area as if it would be our home
forever. But there are other things to do, other adventures
to be had, and I suppose I'm not done yet. I know I'm mixing
we and I... that's because I don't know if it's primarily
my will that's driving my family, or if we're doing it
together. That's another thing to figure out, but for now,
everyone seems to be onboard with the decision. We're all
doing it together, it seems to me. Hopefully that's not just
wishful thinking.
