Home

Last week, I had the opportunity to go home to Taos, NM for 3 days. It was amazing! I've not been home in the fall since going to college. I always used to say it was my favorite season, and during this trip, I was reminded why. The aspens were in full splendor of gold, yellow, and red dapples among the evergreen, and some other trees that hadn't yet turned, set atop a cerulean blue sky. Oh my god. It was breathtaking!

I awoke on Sunday morning, and ran on the dirt road that I grew up on; down the mountain and along the cemetery towards the recently deceased country singer, Lynn Anderson's house; and back along toward the Hot Shots fire crew station. Hearing each foot fall combined with the crunching gravel, feeling my lungs burning with the 35 degree air, and smelling the scent of the horse barn along the road made me feel at one with the Universe.

I didn't listen to music, only my feet and breath. A magpie followed me, flying overhead. And, I couldn't recall the last time I'd seen a magpie, but was enchanted by its presence. I noticed that the crows there flew in pairs, and even though I hadn't been training for running, I sped along, propelling my body, and was right on pace with the time I ran there this past July.

I ran up the hill beyond the Hot Shots station, pausing for a few breaths at the end of the road before heading back home again. It seemed as though the town was waking up and I was witnessing everything come alive. I ran back toward the highway, and then doubled back along the cemetery, up to Paseo Bufalo, my lungs, head, and heart pounding, and acknowledged my body for carrying me forward. As I walked back up the rest of the hill towards my parents' house, focusing on the Taos mountains in the background, I felt a deep sense of spirituality and aliveness. A sense of being and empowerment. A sense of pride and most importantly, of home. Acknowledging that I will always be a Taosena, and that a large part of my heart belongs in Canon.