A Saturday Walk

Look at all those trees! A rare sight in the desert I live in.

We went for a walk last Saturday, and it was perfect.

I suppose it started the night before, when my husband asked me if I’d like to take a walk in the morning. I was, as I always am, very down for a walk. But Alex is not really into the walking thing, so his suggestion surprised me.  So I asked why he was in the mood. Turns out he wasn’t really in the mood, but knowing I loved walks, and wanting to make Midland feel more like home for me, he had gone on a search for good places to stroll about – Google searches, asking coworkers, etc. – and had finally found someplace he thought might actually be really great. And he wanted to try it out, for me. Isn’t that the sweetest thing?

He was happy to join me, but also just as happy to let me walk while he waited in the car and read a book. I insisted he come, and we drove the 20 minutes to Comanche Park in Odessa. 
Alex was nervous, it was really cute. He really wanted it to work out well. And driving to it didn’t help, as it seems surrounded by dirty interstate and traffic chaos. But then suddenly you’re upon the park, and see the paved trail wandering off into thick trees, and it feels secluded. It’s the most trees I’ve seen since moving down to Texas. Thick, leafy trees, with robins chirping in the Spring season. Water pooled in places here and there (Maybe due to flooding we had two days before, but it looked like some stood there somewhat permanently). Disc Golf courses run along the path, and while I enjoy playing I’m not sure I’d want to do it so close to a swampy patch (My aim  isn’t that great. I’d lose so many discs). There are some cute little bridges over some of the ditches. I thought how I’d like to do a photo shoot down there.

It was about an hour walk from one edge of the wooded path and back (And it extended over a road and into an open stretch next to a pond, which we didn’t get to for the day). We talked about theoretical ideas for board game designs. We talked about plans for the day. We held hands for a while. And then we went to get pizza.

It’s a nice joy, knowing that if I ever really get an itch to go see some trees and take a cool walk in nature, I have that close by and always at my fingertips. It’s an even  nicer thought that I have a husband who works so hard to take care of me – even in the not so important things.

(Rumor has it that mosquitoes make the path somewhat impassible when that season comes. And that sketchy stuff goes down there often – which isn’t really surprising considering the secluded location. So maybe I can’t access it all the time, and only with a handsome bodyguard with me. But for the months when I won’t get eaten alive by mosquitoes, I think it’s pretty great)

The Tragedy and Victory of Julius Caesar

It isn’t often Facebook ads actually hit their mark, but one popped up the other day for the Odessa Shakespeare Festival. It told me that on Saturday there was a production of Julius Caesar playing at the Globe Theater. I was intrigued, especially since I missed my beloved Shakespeare In the Park this Summer. Tickets were only $10 so we decided to see what was up.

I am so very happy we tried. It was an enthralling experience. The theater is a tiny, intimate little setting (which was apparently built just for Shakespeare plays!) which makes one feel so close to the stage. You can see all the actors expressions, hear their quieter dialog, see all the nuance of the play. The actors were very talented. They added layers of personality and subtitle to all the characters which was delightful and real. And the tragedy that is Julius Caesar is just a very good play. It’s dramatic and witty and everything you expect of Shakespeare. The whole event was magnificent.

It was, to me, more than that, though. It’s a yearly event, which I am very much looking forward to. The lack of such has been a pain point for me with moving. I’ve struggled with losing Corn Miaze, Christmas Stroll, the Fall Ball, and, among other things and specifically relevant in this instance, Shakespeare in the Park. My year stretched ahead and I didn’t have all these beloved events, and it was a struggle. But walking away from the theater Saturday night, there was one bright shining event ever on my horizon – the yearly Odessa Shakespeare Festival.

It is not Shakespeare in the Park, but it is it’s own, just as wonderful thing. It’s not grabbing a giant picnic blanket and enjoying a summer afternoon, but it is getting the classy feel of a theater and a night out with my Husband. And I can’t go sit with a group of friends and enjoy the camaraderie of the day, but I get to sit close to the actors who don’t have to speak at one loud pitch to get the play across a field of people, and can hear all the highs and lows of the play.

I’m not sure I can really convey the feeling this gave me, this sense of finding something in Midland and being able to say “This! This is my thing!” And to feel like if I have found one thing, I can maybe find other things, and I will soon have a collection of little things that brighten my year so much. They will not be Montana things, and they will not be better or worse than Montana things, but they will be different things that can bring me just as much joy.

It’s a hopeful feeling, and herein I find the victory in one of Shakespeare’s most beloved tragedies.