I’m laying on the floor, typing away on Diane’s laptop, next to Angie and Doug playing backgamman (also laying on the floor) at 11pm on Saturday night here in Blue-jean, OR. It has been a day full of oldest friends in the world and greatest loves of the world. (ie. D & D & A) I had been looking forward to seeing these crazy cats for so long, and here we all are again together, like the good ol’ days. Of course, there is Prancy, the aging companion who has been a sister (erp) for 14 years. Her vision is getting cloudy and her hearing weak, but her prance is still as prancy as ever.
We spent the evening eating the tastiest food, (as always it includes lots of chocolate), reading everyone’s love horoscope, followed by an in-depth natal chart reading, concluded with several clips of Veggi-Tales from the internet that had Angie, Diane and myself rolling and recalling by-gone years. Although honestly i was more laughing at Angie’s tearful hysterics than anything else.
I have missed Diane and Doug so dearly, and seeing them here in OR, instead of home in Newcastle, adds even more to the extreme home-sickenss that both Dustin and I have been experiencing the past few weeks. I guess it must be that time a year when we need to get back to the Black Hills to see the brown rolling hills and valleys that defined our childhoods. How we miss it! Sitting with my gram the other night looking at photos of south dakota (keep in mind that she was born and raised in western Oregon) she said to us “how can anyone stand to live in that bleak land?”. In deed.
I recall it took me many months after moving to Vancouver to start to feel at ease- specifically visually at ease. I felt so much of a sensory overload for a very long time, that I just couldn’t go out for long without feeling so over-stimulated by the constant bright greens, reds, oranges, etc. of everything blooming all year round. I’ve gotten accustomed to it, but I must admit that when shown a photo of S.Dakota, my brain just calms down, my body relaxes, my spirits lift… I think ultimately we will end up back there in that “bleak land”.
I’ll save the discussion about how we really can’t “go home” just yet for another blog entry. Or perhaps not at all. Let’s just say that it would take a lot of effort to explain the religious/political/family variety we are faced with and the love we have for so many – the hardest is the love we have for those that make it so hard to love. I guess the question is that we are facing closer and closer as time goes by- what do we want for our kids? (hypothetical children, of course)
Only the best, and I hope that Prancy is still around to lick their faces.
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