Mama Went Out Dancin'!!

Tonight was a landmark of sorts for me. My favorite little restaurant and antique store was celebrating their first anniversary, and they threw a party tonight. They cleared away some of the tables, scrunched the rest against the walls, and has a couple singers in to entertain. They serve only beer and wine which we had to buy, but a buffet of yummy food was free. After a couple sets of music, people began dancing, and after a few more beers, everyone was dancing with everyone! It was a great deal of fun. One guy that I danced with several times was fun. He wasn't really a good dancer, but he had a lot of fun, and it was good just to be out there moving around! A couple others were also mediocre dancers, but I enjoyed meeting them and just having good ol' fun. I stayed about three hours, and saw a number of people I knew, met some new ones, and just enjoyed myself completely!

Earlier in the day I realized that I'm no longer grieving. Oh sure, I have moments that I do, when I open a box and something reminds me of Glenn, but I am actually into my new life, enjoying life without regrets. It is good to be at that stage. I suppose part of it is getting the KC house sold and the furniture moved. Those were a big part of the strings that tied me to the past. I have a new home, a new car, and a life that I've designed for me. In one sense, tonight's outing was my "coming out party." I felt it was my first venture out into the world as a single woman. I put on my best jeans and boots, my denim blazer and turquoise jewelry, and went out kicking up my heels. I wasn't looking for a man or anything like that, but I was feeling available for the first time. Wow. I feel as if I've taken a huge step!

This next week is a big one for me. I am having my first out of town guests. Originally, I was expecting my first official out of towner to be my high school friend, Joe, from Oklahoma. I'm expecting him to arrive on Thursday. The New Christie Minstrels are going to be here at a supper club, and Joe is a huge fan of theirs. (For those of you who are too young to know, they are a folk group from ... well, longer ago than we or they care to remember!) Joe knows most or all the band members, and I invited him on a lark, not knowing whether he would make the trip, and he jumped at the opportunity to see them. Then he and I both contacted several other friends from those days, and the only other one who could make it is my (nearly) life long friend, Gail, who is arriving on Saturday from Colorado. So we were looking forward to a weekend of old reminiscing and music from the day. Oh, and Allan, his coworker who is my age and his wife are going with us to the show.

As an interesting side note to that, a few days after Joe and I began making our plans, the NCM were traveling through the Tulsa area and called Joe to invite him to have breakfast with them. He told them about coming to New Mexico for the show, and they were delighted, inviting us to join them after the show!

But back to the story of my out of town guests. Now, I'm having another guest even before Joe arrives! Caroline, my friend and former neighbor in KC, is arriving on Monday to spend the week, too! She needs a break, a getaway, and bless her heart, she is willing to put up with and even go to the concert with all us old folks! Isn't she a brave one?! She is three years younger than my youngest child, and everyone is at least 14 years older than her! That's OK, we'll treat her well! I even told her to remember that I'm unpacking and everything is very cluttered, and she simply said that's OK, she'll just jump in and help me and keep herself busy. It will be nice for me to have her here for a few days, too. Not just for the work, but because I miss her being near like she was in KC. Our friendship goes back about nine years, and I've known her since she was just a snot-nosed little kid whose grandmother was my neighbor! I can't wait to show her the beautiful area I live in and introduce her to some friends here.

This makes it really official, doesn't it? Out of town guests = I'm officially a resident here. YAY!! I guess I can go pay the taxes on the truck and get NM license plates on Monday!