if you don't love your friend, surely you will love your enemy
Suddenly decided to drive to Taos anyhow, spur of the moment. Three hours up there, talking to myself and singing to the radio. Realized I have no chance with jc because my singing voice sucks but that has never stopped me yet. But I digress! A few tears in my eyes upon seeing Taos Mountain. GodDAMN I missed it. Drove into town, heading just past the Allsups by the pueblo.... and there's my friend in one of the little giftie shops across from the El Pueblo coffeeshop! I could see her swingy red hair; she still *moves* the same way! Yay! So I grabbed her for some pork tacos at the Guadalajara Grill. Dream about their food. Told the owner I drove 3 hours to eat there and he said next time he'd deliver. :) Actually, he said he's considering buying a place down here... right by my house! Oh, I'll be big as a barn in no time. But I digress. Dropped B back at work. Apparently, she hasn't kept up with any of our other friends. However, of the people who worked at the old Chile Connection on Ski Valley Road, four of us have since become nurses. Kind of odd.
Drove around some more. Went out past the Gorge Bridge and saw my old earthship. Looks like a nice community, now. Drove around in town, some. Furrs is now Raley's. Joseph's Table is gone. The Wool festival is tomorrow! Dammit. Mmmmm, weaving. The cottonwoods are already turning. I missed the cornflowers, which show up everywhere at the end of summer, but some kinda purple flowers were everywhere along the sides of the roads. A rooster was strolling down the highway in El Prado. He had somewhere to be, apparently. Saw many pretty blonde-haired dreadboys, a Taos specialty. Mmmm.
I had been planning to stay overnight, maybe drive out to Arroyo Seco to get a breakfast burrito at Lena's (so many of my memories are about food ::snort::) but... I realized I was done. A few tears at that point. I can't be a tourist in Taos. I miss it too much. I didn't even realize I missed it that much. I swear, if I didn't owe the hospital here in ABQ 2 yrs, I'd get a job at Holy Cross in Taos tomorrow.
It's... I went through the hardest times of my life there. And when I left, it was because I was done and moving on and ready to start a new life and a new learning process. But yesterday I felt so welcomed, like Taos missed me, too, and maybe one of the reasons ABQ feels so barren to me is that, really, I'm done here now, too.
I want to go back.
I did feel like a tool, driving 3 hrs for a couple of hours in Taos, then driving 3 hours back. But that made me laugh, which was perfect and good right about then.
jchalo has a very special lurker in her journal these days! He writes her anonymous little songs like the one about environmental issues called "Touch Me Right There. Twice." Ask her about it.