Friday, October 16, 2009

An Old Love

The skies are really this blue and sometimes even bluer in San Miguel. I guess it is the altitude and the clean air. I don't think I'll ever get enough of the colors of San Miguel but in the last few days I've realized that I'm not a newcomer any more.

We have some friends of friends who are visiting San Miguel and they are bubbling with excitement at each and every open doorway and the restaurants and the shops. They are exploring every nook and cranny and seeing San Miguel for the first time. They are having a great time.

So I've been asking myself, have I become jaded about "my" town. What happened to that excitement of swooping into town for a shopping trip. Well, life happens. I live here now. Now I can get excited if I find lemons at Mega, or find out that Bonanza is now carrying boxes of chicken stock or a new restaurant has opened or I finally find some item I've been wanting for the house or the moon rise is very special from the terrace or we have a quiet candle lit dinner on the patio. I still catch my breath when I turn on Ancha from Orizaba to go into town. The churches across the blue sky are so beautiful. I still feel enveloped in peace when I go into one of the churches and sit a spell. I still love the confusion of colors in the mercados, the piles of flowers outside of Espinos.

No, I guess there isn't the excitement of a new love anymore but it is a love that is ageing very well.

18 comments:

Unknown said...

like your love for Ned?

Billie Mercer said...

Dana, you got it!

GlorV1 said...

This was a very nice post Billie. You sound so happy and accomplished. I'm happy for you too.

Babs said...

Beautifully written Billie. I had it today walking down Cuesta. I felt my heart swell with contentment as I stopped, looked out over the valley and church spires and said to myself, "Wow I live here". It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it is wonderful.

Diane said...

I so want to live there too!

Unknown said...

Nicely written. We are having blue skies here in Tegucigalpa. Gorgeous, but we need rain. This should be the grey skies time for us. I worry about our farmers, too, but I am enjoying cool breezes, blue skies and our 2 presidents for now are both quiet.

Michael Dickson said...

How´s your Spanish? Can you talk to this old love? Or is it just a case of starry-eyed gazes?

Calypso said...

True romance must mature into something greater or nothing at all.

Obviously you are still in love - a good thing - Viva SMA!

Billie Mercer said...

Felipe, you got me. My Spanish is still poor but that hasn't stopped me from loving.

Sam and Bob said...

Billie...well put. Can't wait to get back. Right now, I miss the beautiful blue sky.

Unknown said...

you have poor spanish? that doesn't fit with my image of you. are you being modest, perhaps?

Billie Mercer said...

Dana, I'm not being modest. You are going to have to re-image me.

Unknown said...

i can't even use a digital camera, so re-imaging is way beyond my capabilities. could you just learn spanish from your pedestal?

Michael Dickson said...

Dana J, I was 99 percent certain of Billie´s response when I posed the question. Living in San Miguel, which is indeed a pretty place, makes good Spanish totally optional. Actually, that´s one of the draws of the place for Americans.

The fact that so many Gringos living in SMA gush so about Mexicans and Mexican life is due to their knowing little of what is going on around them in the native world, which is a very troubling and dark world indeed.

Mexicans put on a face for them, but it´s often a false face.

But, as most of the SMA Gringos have discovered, this disconnect rarely bites them, and they live a good life.

Billie Mercer said...

Felipe, Most of my gushy posts aren't about the Mexicans but about the beauty of this place. I think I'm aware that Mexico and Mexicans aren't in love with me.

If you were 99% certain that my Spanish was poor, why did you ask? To embarrass me? To prove your point about gringos in SMA?

Oreen Scott said...

When I was in SMA I saw a park that commemorated the four Americans whose praising of SMA brought many more Americans to the place, I have a photo of the park somewhere.

Billie - it's your blog, it's a personal blog. Keep writing what you feel.

Michael Dickson said...

Answer: To illustrate my point about Gringos in Mexico in general. San Miguel simply stands out in this regard. And, as I said, I was not 100 percent sure of your response, but almost. Maybe I was hoping to find an exception.

This is one of my favorite topics.

Billie Mercer said...

Felipe, I still don't see why my blog entry about how much I like living in SMA was used to prove your point about Gringos who don't learn to converse in Spanish but I guess it gave you some satisfaction.