Conversations in Oak House

Oak House at Orient Land Trust

Beyond soaking in the hot springs or hiking up to the old mine or riding my mountain bike along retired railroad tracks, the brief, always revealing, conversations are memorable.  Somehow the mountain air, the views off the back porch onto the valley, open people.  They are sometimes stark but always provide a glimpse at stories, at stories recorded deep in the soul. 

On the front porch

 

 

 

There was Tammy who had come up from the valley to spend a night with WiFi (a dust storm had shaken the reception in her solar-powered cabin.  Her boyfriend of 10 years had just left her.  In her early 40s, she was trying to make contacts to "figure out where to move, how to get a job."

The young (one year out of college) couple spending five months on the road to explore the western landscape, now heading back to California because they had "run out of" money.  I asked him what was the one most important thing he had learned on the trip.  He hesitated, saying "there were so many."  But then he said, "I've learned that you can live simply and cheaply..."  And I rejoined, "That's an important lesson."  He paused again but before he turned the corner out of the kitchen, he said, "....and I don't think I want to."  Perhaps an even more important lesson. 

Kim, rubbing her wrists with ice to reduce the pain from tendonitis, wondering how to leave job cleaning houses (been doing it for twenty years..."raised two kids myself") for something that would produce less pain, thinking if she could just take off for three or four months to let them heal.....

Another place for conversation

Philip who comes up from Santa Fe a couple of times a month to escape the stress of his business of fixing cooling systems in old cars.

Patrick, a nurse, has not had a fixed address for 18 months..."all the mail goes to my ma."   Been working in Palm Springs (he's a nurse) and "hated it," now on his way back home for a three month contract in Minneapolis....then off somewhere else.

The family moving in two weeks to an "intentional community" in Missouri.  I asked the Dad what his intention was...he said it was to live a "really sustainable" lifestyle....it sounded like very serious business "but it is so cool because everything is done by consensus."  

In short, people taking a little breather from daily tasks and relationships, perhaps using the time to try to pivot into a new life.  Or just keeping those daily cares at bay for a while.