Many, including myself, move between communities on a seasonal basis. Snowbirds are more likely to set up two separate lives including addresses, property, and sets of friends. Others are more fleeting, stopping a few days to visit family or rent the same cabin, making annual acquaintances, moving in and out of fluid circles. I still struggle with these channel changes.

I remind you of Billy Collins’ poem, The Sandhill Cranes of Nebraska.  He muses over being somewhere, thus missing something going on in a place that you are not, creating a mindset of missing out. A change of perspective reminds us that we are fortunate enough to be where we are and tune into that! Think gratitude.

This spring I specifically reserved tickets to the opera Carmen and the Zorongo Flamenco in August to be part of the Brainerd Lakes Area Music Festival, thus leaving my cabin in a peak moment of summer. I mourned locking away my kayak and cleaning up as if for seasonal closing. Yet, I was thrilled that my community was sponsoring these exemplary cultural events, hosting musicians, funding concerts so that all could pick the price they could afford.

On that August weekend, my family and I were greeted by ushers at both events who are part of my life here. Ellie, from church. Meredith, from days of creating and teaching Many Faces of Mexico. A tap on the shoulder reunited me with Virginia, former student from the 1990s, now an outstanding attorney in town. A tall man in the corner called out, “Señora, you’re here!” Then introduced me to his wife from Seville, a member of the Carmen chorus! “She gives you the credit for bringing us together,” he smiles. Wow, I am humbled.,