A Day of Celebration

Readers of this blog may have noticed the gadget down there on the right that has been counting down days to "a special Zee celebration" for the last few months. It finally made it down to zero, and today is the day, at last!


My Beez will do the last few tasks at his office in Clovis, New Mexico, five hours away on the other side of the state. He'll close up our other house over there, hang up the For Sale sign, climb into the U-Haul truck, and drive the last leg of a year-long commute of many thousands of miles. Today, some time around 10 AM Mountain Time, he will be officially retired and the celebrations will begin when he arrives here at home at last to stay.


It's been a long year. Because Beez was far away during most of the time, I have had to deal with things here at the adobe house in the pecan orchard all by myself, just as he has had to re-learn old bachelor ways of cooking and cleaning. 


When the big storm came in July and the tree tore off the gas meter, making a big and very scary gas leak, it was just me and the dogs (and some very heroic repairmen) against the elements.

Aftermath of the July storm. There was a lot more stuff down on the other side of the house.

The first of a series of work crews cleaning up and repairing damage; the work went on for several months. Yes, they look pretty relaxed, I know. That's the way we do it here in the Land of Manana.

When our dear little Bertie Pierre breathed his last, he was in my arms alone and without his beloved Beez.

Much loved little Bert, in happier days

More recently and way more comically, when the many-legged centipede was scuttling around the kitchen in the middle of the night I had to do battle on my own, get him into a container, and release him out in the orchard in the dark. Perhaps it was a good thing that there were no humans nearby to witness that spectacle. (I'll bet Linda, over at the 7MSN blog, is snickering at this point--she singlehandedly wrassles rattlesnakes quite regularly and makes it look easy!).


On the other hand, I've had the pleasure of learning how to do some handy things on my own, like online banking and remembering where I parked the car. Back when she was staying with me, my sister and I made it through a whole winter building some darned efficient fireplace fires in the kivas every day before we got some heating systems installed in this old adobe house. 

Bread dough rising in front of a pretty good fire

I've met some wonderful people along the way. After the storm, when the first of a parade of scary-looking tattooed men stopped by to offer help, and I learned that big guys on motorcycles with skulls and crosses all over their arms could be my friends.

I met the tallest men with the biggest tattoos

I learned a bit of Spanish, helped by patient workmen on ladders who didn't mind waiting while I waved my arms around and searched for the right palabra (word). I met neighbors and made new friends, and found that I was building a network of good people I could always turn to for help and advice.


But now, I can settle back into the warmth and companionship of a long marriage, with an actual visible and onsite husband! I can stop trying to explain to our dog Leny why her best friend keeps driving away to disappear for yet another lonely week. 


Now we embark on a whole new set of adventures. I can't wait.