I have not been writing on the blog for awhile. Too much has been going on in my life. I haven't taken any photos either. Maybe that pink cloud has finally worn off. I call the excitement that new people have after moving here a pink cloud. Pink cloud is a term used by recovering alcoholics at the beginning of their sobriety. The pink cloud can last for months or even years.
My pink cloud about living here lasted for a few years. I always had my camera with me. I have taken over thirty thousand photos of this area. Now I mostly leave the camera at home.
I still love living here. I guess now I take it for granted. I don't think about it unless I am reminded. Trying to cancel a reservation online is one reminder. I spent an hour on the phone last night, waiting to talk with a real person to cancel a hotel room. All that time they were advertising various things to me, telling me to punch a number to get transferred to their site.
I mentioned this to my son. He lives in Kansas. He took that for granted, just as I now take things here for granted. He lives in a world where he has to constantly be on the phone, waiting and listening to people trying to sell him something. I don't.
Two days ago, I was sitting in the little plaza with Chico and a Mexican man came up to me and tried to sell me a prepaid funeral for myself. I was deeply offended. I told him that I wasn't thinking about dying.
He said, "I don't want you to die. I just want you to buy." And he walked on, looking for another elderly person to approach.
That was the extent of advertising I had been subjected to until last night when I tried canceling the hotel online. I was bombarded with sales pitches.
I read somewhere that the most valuable thing in the world is consciousness.
Everyone wants some of it. To sell us something. I am so glad that I live in this small village where I am rarely assaulted by someone stealing my serenity by trying to sell me something. I can put up with one Mexican man trying to get me to buy my own funeral arrangements. When I said no, he walked on. No pressure.
I no longer live in that pink cloud, unfortunately. Now I just see this place as my home. Home is good too. Very good.
