Another Place

I am in San Antonio this week, helping our daughter move into and establish her new home.

It's a new world here. The vegetation is so different from either Kansas or Mobile. I barely recognize any of the trees or shrubs. In a way it's invigorating and exciting, and in a way it's disconcerting.

I'm beginning to learn a new rhythm of place. Wasps seem to be a lot more abundant here, starting nest after nest under the eaves and on the porches. There are big wasps and little ones, but most seem to be paper wasps of some variety or another. A large nest of small wasps under the eaves of the house next door entertains me with its comings and goings as I eat or read at the kitchen table.

A small scorpion scampered across the kitchen floor last night, tail held menacingly high over its back as I came up to look, admire, but ultimately to squash.

Earwigs, ants, spiders.... They have all been in the new house over the last few days. I'm guessing that they are the dispossessed, and I feel bad that their habitat is gone. For better or for worse, as humans we move into a new habitat and force out its old inhabitants. We are not very good neighbors.

It will be a challenge to learn the workings of this new place as I help Jess settle in to this new place, especially since so much of my learning will have to be done from so far away. I relish the challenge, though, as it will make me feel ultimately more a part of life in general, and thus ultimately much richer.