Desert Aura

I spent four days of reflection in the desert aura of Tucson, Arizona while staying at a Residence Inn.

Around 7:00 am each day, I had the morning caregiver for Cindy call me. She held the phone near Cindy for my greeting.  I went with the usual endearments:  “you’re my Expedition Woman,” “we make a great team,” “I’ll be back soon,” “I love you.”  I also sang to her a few lines from songs like “Cindy” and “Good morning.”

Points from our timeshare that I usually cannot use saved money on booking a room.  Free breakfast buffets and a kitchenette minimized expenses further.  Needing an Uber to get anywhere would have added an expense but I mainly stayed at the resort.  The 100 degree temperature and an air conditioned fitness room  influenced that decision.

The first morning after the phone call I managed to walk about a mile to a Walmart for some essentials.  The outing provided enough of a desert aura to stir the senses and memories.  The calendar said winter; the weather said summer.  The vegetation bridged the difference with vestiges of a desert spring.  When growing in the inhospitable desert, plants bloom with gusto whenever the short window of opportunity arises.

I kept to a hiker’s desert heat schedule of hiking/walking mostly before nine or after five.  Early morning light bathed the distant mountains; desert wrens escorted my walk with song.  I smelled and felt more “desert” than “heat” on my walk.  The opposite occurs between nine to five with blanched colors, silent birds and the desert smelling and feeling more like an oven.

I am a proud resident from the Icebox of Connecticut, but I embraced the aura of being in the desert.  Who knows when or if I will feel this aura again.  This alone made my four day respite worth the air travel, though I prefer the ratio of resort to travel days being greater than 1:1.  Considering I mainly wanted to reflect during my respite, spending near equal time with air travel did not matter as much to me.  I got to interact with new folks just as well, perhaps more so.

On the way out I sat next to Zac, a freshman in college studying computer science who will be receiving heart surgery soon.  As he got up to use the bathroom I unwound his defibrillator from the seat belt, which got the conversation started.  I watched and learned how he applied code to alter a chess program.  The computer had to choose the fifth best move, which led to it losing no matter how poorly Zac deliberately played.

At the resort I practiced my schmoozing skills on the concierges: Katie, Jon and Cassandra.  The knack for schmoozing came from my father, the specialty advertising salesman.  Alas, I never picked up his ability to make sales as well, but I have made countless friends out of strangers during the course of my long distance hikes.

To continue with writings, music and presentations for humanity I need to get back to schmoozing with people I just met.  When we walked across the country people reading the blog expressed how it changed their views on humanity. Reporting on the kindness of others requires leaving home to meet them, which gets to the main purpose of my trip.  How comfortable am I to leave Cindy for how long?

A couple years ago I left Cindy at Geer Village while I took a long weekend off.  When I picked Cindy up I did not feel good about leaving her there.  The aides did nothing wrong, but a little of her spark seemed to be gone.  When I got back home from Tucson after leaving Cindy for twice as long she looked OK for her current condition.  Being at home matters, perhaps as much as being with me.

Indeed, I likely had more discomfort than Cindy at being away for four days.  Plus the coverage, though sufficient during that time, still ran into a few snags.  I believe I will need to limit my schmoozing excursions to 1-2 days, all within a few hour driving distance.

For other humanity writings: The Unenlightened Wisdom Project
For humanity music: The Bards of Balance on Bandcamp
For humanity presentations: My eCommerce Site (help me schmooze, book a presentation)

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