The Clown Bar

This is me in the Clown Bar:

This is where I began back in August.

Danny and I came here to visit Doug and Candace. I was still living in the Pearland house. I had decided that the best thing to do was to leave, but I had not moved yet. I had a ticket to use from Southwest from when Sarah was not ready for me to come to New Mexico. The divorce shift was not sitting well with her. I was getting ready to jump. It was close to time for school to start again, still summer, but just barely.

It was a good trip. It did not turn out the way Danny wanted it to, and for that, I lost a friend. It happens. People do not always appreciate the choices made.

Keith drove down from Eureka near the end of the trip.

And this is where this leg of my journey began.

And here I am again.

In the Clown bar.

Things are very different now.

I have begun a new life, left the old one behind. 

I've been reflecting in the Clown Bar, beauty just outside the door. I asked Doug if he knew how lucky he was to live here. I feel fortunate to be here, if only for a little while. I am thankful for these places where I can touch down. It is nice to have places where I can tie down my kite string for a little while, kinda like the character in the move we saw the other night: Inside Llewyn Davis.

 He was a couch surfer. Jim & Valerie have the best couch, ever. I think I need to go to Buda when I get back to Texas, go sit on the porch and sing with Jim, go for a walk with Val, and talk.

I have also appreciated the room with a view that Pat & Mona have provided me with during this transitional time in my life. The security of that room is what made me strong enough to leave my suburban home, to walk away from the house, kitchen, and garden that I was used to tending. They so generously opened up their home to me as a place where I could safely negotiate my new life.

I've realized how important these safety nets have been to me. 

From the Clown Bar, it appears that life is a circus. If that is true, then I feel like I am swinging from the high bars. 

Things change.