Hot Springs in Terlingua
It’s April 2022 and I’m in a hot spring in Terlingua. I arrived around 6am on a Thursday. I knew the best time to get there was before anyone else was awake -- you get about an hour or so all to yourself. I had been to the hot springs before with friends but now I’m here alone, contemplating what I want to do with my life and wondering how I’m going to do it.
As expected, an hour later another person approaches, but he doesn’t seem to be the normal tourist crashing the special moment. He says his name is Steve, he has a white beard and he’s been around these parts for a while. He sees Badger and tells me about his own loyal dog, C-Dog, that he had to recently put down. I feel for him. He shares his traveling tales, interspersed with facts about the bats and birds flying overhead.
I tell Steve that I’m considering moving to Terlingua. He sees that I may have the temperament to be here but still cautions: “Go other places; maybe another place will call to you too.” More people show up and the moment is gone.
I still think about that morning occasionally. I wonder where Steve is and if he’s found another dog companion. And I wonder what my life would be like if I actually had the means to move there. Leaving behind ideas or hopes can be difficult but still a very rewarding experience.
We tend to put a lot of hope into one idea, one plan, one attempt. The reality for many of us is that success, joy or fulfillment won’t often be found immediately.
In Terlingua, you’ll find the hechtia plant. Unlike other plants of its species that flower only once and then die, hechtia can flower multiple times and continue growing. A flower does not mark a permanent death, but the beginning of a new cycle of growth. Allowing dreams to flower and die in order to see what the next season will bring can be difficult but often necessary.
A lot has happened since soaking in that hot spring in Terlingua. Even now I find it hard to realize that it was only a year ago --amazing how many different hopes and dreams can die and blossom within a year. Those little or big deaths are neither good nor bad but a part of us as we figure out what we want to do next and how we’re going to do it.
~AG
*UPDATE 07/02/2024
This story set in Terlingua has been written out more thoroughly and was the primary story for the first Into the Wasteland printed Journal. You can read the full story by purchasing a journal or a digital one if you prefer.
