Well, I’m moving to Asheville, NC tomorrow.
Honestly, the hardest people to leave are the ones I work with. I can rest assured that I’ll see my friends again. But with the nursing home residents I work with through the Mobile Art Program, it’s pretty unlikely. They came into my life at the end of their lives. Which is totally devastating, but also a comforting reminder that nature is in control. That’s why I wanted to move to the mountains in the first place…. to not simply stumble upon a patch of grass here and there, but to be totally bombarded with in-your-face reminders that we are just small humans. Nature should be overwhelming. All day. Everyday.
…That was a tangent.
These people. These beautiful, old, wrinkled, dependent, patience-testing people have taught me more about myself and what I want to be like in this life than anyone or anything I have ever encountered.
On my last day at my favorite nursing home, the residents presented me with a book of their work and well-wishes. Doris told me, “Now we can tell you all day how much you mean to us, but if you just look at those paintings, they say it all. You’ll be able to tell just by lookin’ at them.”
Thank you for all the love you’ve given me, Texas.
Now I’m gonna go spread it in Carolina.
