The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills

I chose the title for this piece, or perhaps I should say, I stole the title for this piece from the title of a book of poems by Charles Bukowski. I have never read the book, but have always loved the title. I have never been able to imagine feeling that way until now. I have had much more experience with feeling quite the opposite.

A year ago we were packing up my house and preparing for a move to a new state. The days of preparation were exhausting. We had to decide what to take with us, what to leave behind. We had to say goodbyes to people, places and things that had been part of our lives and we were in nervous anticipation of what was to come.

We drove off the cliff of what was by this point “Arizona familiar” into the unknown world of the “California to-be-revealed”. New climate. New geography. New geology. New house. New doctors, grocery stores, libraries, challenges and experiences. A whole new life in a whole new place. What would we find when we drove off that precipice?

We arrived in San Luis Obispo at 5:00 p.m. July 1, 2012. In the year since then, I have come to understood what it means for The Days to Run Away Like Wild Horses. (For me time usually feels like it is going too slow except when I am on vacation in the Caribbean Islands or when I only have a couple of days to spend with my BFF who lives halfway across the country.)

The day the truck arrived!

I recognized that my new life gave me an opportunity to really shape my own experience. I don’t think that I have ever been able to do that before. I have always had commitments: (financial, family, friends) and I still do, but this time I was going to a new place with a purpose, a resolve and information I had gleaned from people who had more experience than me.

When I arrived in San Luis Obispo, I didn’t do anything quickly. I made decisions about where to shop and what to buy deliberately. I learned my way around mostly by using the Yelp App on my iPhone. Some days I only took on one new challenge in a day. Some days I actually found my way from one location to another, as I learned to navigate what would soon become familiar routes. To the library, to an AA meeting, to a grocery store. We went on short field trips to various beaches (Avila, Pismo, Moonstone, Morro Bay) and to see the Elephant Seals at San Simeon.

We waited for our furniture to arrive, and still had an almost empty house after the truck had been unloaded. I didn’t hurry to furnish the nearly vacant rooms. I had to take time to feel the space around me. (I was also slightly terrified, not ever having had so much space to fill.)

Minimalism

After arriving in San Luis Obispo I went horseback riding on the beach in Los Osos, saw the zebras more than once on the Hearst Ranch property. I took dozens of pictures as I walked a thousand miles or so in circles on the paths in Meadow Park. I attended the Central Coast Writer’s Conference at Cuesta College. I joined SLO Nightwriters. I started attending a weekly writer’s workshop. I found an AA home group. I started taking regular walks on the beach. I went to Hearst Castle in San Simeon and to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I attended three plays, two Gilbert and Sullivan productions and a performance by Garrison Keillor. I have visited UU churches in Monterey and Cambria. I went to the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference. I was invited to join a book club that was just starting. I have made new friends and I have had the chance to share some of the joys of my life here with old friends.

Several times a week I find myself being surprised…”it’s already Wednesday?” “Is it really almost time to get my prescriptions filled again?” “Wow, I thought we had months before that was scheduled.” And then when I catch myself being surprised at how fast the time is going, I have a moment of being surprised because I have never had this kind of “Days Run Away Like Wild Horses” feeling in my life.

And…OMG…The Produce!

OMG the produce!