My mother had 2 sisters and she was close to both. She and her sister Dorothy decided they would try to have children at the same time, so the cousins could grow up together. They succeeded. My cousin and I are 3 months apart and did indeed grow up as close family. We shared summer adventures at my Aunt's place on the Delaware river which my cousin has written about . Holidays were always shared and when my own mother passed away when I was 10, Aunt Dottie as we called her, was there to lean on.
She gave me a wedding shower and I still have the Joy of Cooking cookbook she gave me. To this day, my cousin Bob is my dearest family member, more than my own brothers.
As teenagers ,we played guitars and wrote songs that we recorded on my older cousin's reel to reel tape deck. We called ourselves "The Inner Sanctum".
Recently my cousin re-recorded some of the songs we wrote back in 1967-1969 and I sang some back up vocals on them. Our love of music was always a shared interest and I found music , especially writing it, a way to express my life's early tragedy of losing a parent
So...here I am in Texas which is a whole other story. I grew up in NJ, lived a lot of my life in New Mexico and spent 20 years in Hawaii. Texas has never been on the radar, but I am here, in the Hill Country to help out someone who is fighting cancer with the intent to explore Tiny house communities and hopefully find "my tiny house tribe", and bring chocolate back into my life.
Texas, along with Florida, Arizona , Oregon and a few places in California are tiny house friendly. This once uncommon way of living has become more acceptable as housing costs rise and the average person can no longer afford to buy the "American Dream". I've lived in plenty of good sized homes but tiny living has appealed to me for a while. In Hawaii I lived on a 7 acre farm in a 200 sf shack. It had an outdoor kitchen, and outdoor shower and was one of the happiest times of my life. I'm just not into having a lot of "stuff". I don't think I'm a "Texan" whatever that really is. I'm liberal for sure and find a lot of the state really like another planet.
But the climate agrees with me, the scenery is inspiring and the folks here so far have been welcoming and gracious. Manners are real here, and so is picking up trash. ( thank you Ladybird Johnson) .The food is great, the towns are charming and there's much to discover in this enormous state, So I'm here with an open mind and heart.
I needed to take myself on a healing journey and so, at least for now, this is the road. Here's a little song I wrote to sum it up. Theres no music yet, as my piano is packed, but its in my head. Its got a little Country Western twang. Use your imagination and someday I'll record it.
Texas Roads
Texas roads, take me home
Headed where, I do not know
Only know that where I’ve been
I’m not headed there again
Bearing grief , it melts away
When on the road , nothing to say.
All these flowers soothe my soul.
Hoping soon, they’ll make me whole.
Endless sky and heavy clouds
Sometimes rain makes its way.
Texas roads, take me home
Headed where, I cannot say.
Give strength, give me peace
Let me live a simpler way
Been running on empty
For a while.
My body’s tired, forgot to smile.
Texas roads, take me home
Headed where , I do not know
Give me strength, give me peace
Let me live a better way.
