We got back from our trip to New Mexico last night and we're ready for a day of relaxing at home. It was a good trip and one we needed to take, but like trips to the old hometown, a little bittersweet. We moved away from southern New Mexico back in 1976 and have lived primarily in Texas since then, with a break of 7 years when we moved to northern New Mexico. We love Texas and really consider it to be home now.
It was good to visit with my husband's family-we ate lots of good New Mexican food (a whole different thing from Tex-Mex), spent time with siblings and cousins and played 42 (a domino game) for the first time in years. We also visited cousins that are the oldest left in the family. We don't know if we'll get to see them again this side of Heaven, so it was definitely a visit we wanted to make-they are all close to 90. We laughed a lot at their stories-they got up to some shenanigans when they were at New Mexico State University together in the early 1960's! My husband graduated from NMSU in 1976 and we spent one morning just going to the buildings where he went to classes, driving around our old neighborhood in married student housing and reminiscing. It was strange to think that we now have a grandchild at university here in Texas! Guess that's why all of the students looked like "little kids"! 😄 We drove by our old schools and we drove by our old houses where we grew up-a little depressing for me to see how run down the house and neighborhood are-and made a trip to the cemetery where our parents and many of my husband's family are buried. We did a lot of just driving down old roads and revisiting familiar places. Southern New Mexico is a beautiful place of desert, mountains, and miles of pecan orchards. (These are photos from the internet-they are in the middle of a bad drought and it's all brown and dry, plus it's winter.)
It was a busy week but we're glad we went. Now to get back to "normal"! Getting the inside of our house painted is next on our list, but not just yet!
Jan, I'm glad ya'll made it home safely and that you had a good time. I've always wanted to spend some time in NM but the opportunity never came up. I have been through NM on the way to other places but I want to explore especially the art and cultural parts.
ReplyDeleteGrace & Peace,
Pam
Pecan orchards in New Mexico? Really? I never would've thought they'd grow there! We see them a lot in southern Georgia and South Carolina, maybe a few in northern Florida. But this is a much humid climate I would think than what New Mexico would have! I've never been there and can't even imagine living there! But it is fun to go "back home", even if a bit bittersweet. I do understand that. I don't even like to drive by my old home where I grew up, because I would expect to see my parents come out and wave to us. It just can never be the same again. It sounds like you had a great time and good visits with dear people. Thanks for sharing it with us.
ReplyDeleteSo glad first of all for your safety while traveling. Happy you all were able to take this trip and visit with family and friends. Reminiscing can be fun especially when the fun memories make you laugh. I know this area is pretty with the all of the cactus and different kind of landscape. I do love Texas though and I especially love our Big Tall Pine Trees... Hope you all get caught up on your rest.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a wonderful visit and created some special memories with family. My husband grew up out of state and unfortunately we usually only visit for funerals these days. We did spend an extra day last time and checked out all of his childhood memories. He was very disappointed that the home he grew up in has changed. It is actually in lovely condition - a big 2 story home build in the early 1900's. But they had taken the railing off the porch (gasp) removed all the rose bushes and other egregious things. His elementary school across the street had many changes, new playgrounds, an addition, a different entrance. He wasn't sure about these changes, but was not as angry about it, lol.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like an amazing trip! But as you said, bittersweet. Sad to see things run down, but so fun to relive those memories!
ReplyDeleteWhat a good trip to take in the Winter!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you got to go and happy you had such a great visit! Having fun is exhausting, though, so rest and recover is just what you need now!
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