My poor neglected blog. When I began this blog 5 year ago I
was desperate for something to keep me sane during the hubby’s deployment. Now
I’m back again desperate for something to keep me sane during our last 6 months
in the desert. This has been hard.
Things no one tells you about living in the middle of desert:
1.
Driving 45 minutes to the nearest town doesn’t
sound bad until you’ve actually done it. Over and over and over again. Before
we moved here I thought, “3 hours from Las Vegas, 2 hours to LA and a little
less than an hour to another town? No problem. We’ll be in LA and Vegas all the
time!” Ha. There comes a moment when you decide it’s no longer fun to drive for
hours to get basic things.
It is a long drive home.
2.
You miss green. Seriously. I miss green trees,
green grass, green shrubs….basically any sign of life.
3.
Your tiny oasis can become a tiny hell. When you’re
stuck for years in the same very small place what was once I nice getaway from
the world becomes a prison. You see the same faces, go to the same handful of
places and do the same things daily. People can get catty and rude because they
feel as grumpy as you do about being stuck in the middle of the desert. We all
seem to take it out on each other and it’s not fun.
4.
The wildlife. There are tortoises. And wild
donkeys. And coyotes. And snakes. The
donkeys wander around the neighborhoods, the coyotes look like they’re all on
death’s doorstep and I still haven’t seen the tortoises.
5.
You find out quickly who your friends are. The people
who will drop anything to help you when there is a problem. I’ve only managed to
find a handful of those kinds of people but knowing that I’ve got them makes
all the difference.
It’s been a hell of an experience living the middle of the
desert and one I’m sure I’ll never forget. It’s been lonely, it’s been
depressing but it’s also been eye opening. I think I’m a better person for it as well.
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