Tag: beckham county

The Wandering Hermit: Community

   15 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Community

My cousin Denise joined me on my morning walk.  Of course, I was a little less attentive than I should have been.  She did tell me that she had been doing 1 mile and we just kept walking until we did 2.  That seemed a bit much for her, but she didn’t say anything about it.  Overall, it was a wonderful walk.  I do enjoy walking with people; I just don’t like walking with others everyday.

Canute is small enough that this, the third time walking the town, I was starting to run out of new things to see.  There were a few streets I didn’t walk up and down, but not many and all of those are just houses.  I’m fairly certain I’ve walked by every business.  We went up to the park next to the cemetery, and it is extremely nice for a town of Canute’s size.  It looks like the local Lion’s Club funds a lot of things in town, and they apparently have the funds for some nicer things.  It would be nice if a place like Glencoe, which is the same in population, had something as nice as that.  It is also on a highway, and also just off a larger highway.  I’m not sure Glencoe has places that do that kind of community funding of local projects.  Denise and I actually talked about that and what the future looks like as things like Lion’s Club and similar community organizations fade away.  They don’t get younger members at a rate that they need to stay alive, and I think that’s a shame.  With our focus on global connections, donations of money tend to go to the places that are the consensus of the group, but that leaves out local communities that might respond by raising taxes to fund some of the common projects.  That annoys some people, and makes things harder.  

Denise’s word of the moment is community and I love that because it has been on my mind so much in the last few months.  People need community.  And I think our reluctance to finding our community is a bigger problem than we appreciate.  That’s one of the few benefits to being part of a historically marginalized group.  There is a forcing into community that actually ends up being beneficial, even if outliers don’t always love the result.  The downside is that that community exists because of external forces pushing it together, but a community of people pulling themselves together is so much stronger.  That is was seems to be dimming with time and I hope we can find ways to reignite and revive our passions for the places we live or the people who share both our interests and proximities. 

[Walk #124]

The Wandering Hermit: Grounded

   14 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Grounded

This morning brought on a sense of calm I was missing for a couple of days.  I slept so well.  My legs felt drained and my mind clear.  Brent has the thermostat set really low, almost too cold to be comfortable.  But it makes sleep easy, and I felt like I could breath all night.  My morning felt hopeful after that.

Last night, I spent hours talking to cousins again.  It’s what one does when they haven’t spent time with people in many years.  It was such a nice talk, but I did keep getting little reminders of how different our worldviews are.  I was already aware of everyone’s fairly—or extremely—conservative views, but sometimes it came up in off-putting ways.  I think the euphoria of the first day needed—demanded in fact—that kind of grounding.  I don’t want to move forward in my relationship with my family members with some kind of façade layered on everything.  They are real, tangible, flawed.  All of that is what I appreciate most about them.  I am all of those things too, and I would assume they’d feel similar about views I hold that oppose their own.  I don’t voice those things though.  I can handle being in a competitive talking environment, but I’m a spectator and not a participant.

We might stay here another day.  That’s fine, but I didn’t pack clothes for that exactly. There is a washer & dryer here, so I could use that.  I’ve been trying to stay here very gently.  I don’t want to take up too much space or use things in the house.  I realize Dad’s cousin is never here anymore, so she doesn’t care.  But I know her.  I know how she is and how she feels about things that I have trouble getting on board with.  It’s Sunday and even in agreement there were guilt trips concerning going to service at her church this morning.  I avoided her and the topic altogether.  I didn’t pack for that, and I’m not really interested.  I still might get dragged there, but I’d rather not.  And I don’t want to feel guilty for that.  I have the reasons I have for the decisions I make.  And I won’t take judgment for that.  So, we’re staying at her house.  I don’t want to be disrespectful when I know me being here would bother her.  It’s a weird position to be in.  She’s always been like that though.  I’m not coming to a new understanding; I’m just realizing what that means when it comes to asking for her hospitality.  That said, she’d give it if I asked.

[Walk #123]

The Wandering Hermit: Onward To Canute!

   12 July 2024  Leave a Comment on The Wandering Hermit: Onward To Canute!

I thought I wouldn’t have time for a walk, so opted to wait for evening.  Brent’s apartment has a gym though, so I was able to do that for 25 minutes.  Knowing Brent was just waiting in the car, I didn’t do my full 2 miles.  That’s mildly disappointing, but it also turned out that I didn’t need to wait anyway.  

We are on our way to Canute, Oklahoma where we will be staying for the weekend.  My great aunt’s birthday party is in nearby Elk City, and we are staying at the home of her daughter.  I’m nervous because family makes me a little nervous, but it’ll be good.  My aunt Rita and uncle Jerry will be staying at the house with us.  It’ll be a weird weekend!  

[Walk #121]

Edit: Jerry did not come down for this vacation, but my cousins Les & Denise did, as well as my cousin Rechelle’s daughter Ashleigh and her daughter Daisy.