Photo by prozac1@ freedigitalphotos.com
What is there to do here? Don’t you get bored?
By Darryl Silva
I don’t know about you, but two of the most asked questions asked of me once people visit San Felipe are: “What do you do here? Don’t you get bored?” I suppose that at first blush it may seem like there is nothing to take up your days and nights. I must admit that at first I might stumble a bit trying my best to explain my daily schedule. So I started making some mental notes of what my average day was all about.
What I found was illuminating! Especially to me. It was not what I had expected. You see, in my other life, just like many of you, I was burning the candle at both ends. If there was a wick, it was being burned. Not until I learned how to decelerate did I have a better understanding of what life was all about.
Almost everyday I accumulate several hours sitting on my front shaded porch just watching. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed snooping on Mother Nature as she carries out her daily routine.
The more mature of us might remember a day when we would actually entertain ourselves. Long sticks might be swords. The shorter ones may be guns, knives or even a tractor or truck. Imagination was our life force. We were encouraged to use our gift of imagination to keep ourselves busy. There were no malls or huge multi screen theatres. No Game lounges. The Disney Channel had not yet been conceived. There was no need. We created our own world of happiness. Superman was my hero. To this day, I think he could take all The Teenage Ninja Turtles and make a good soup out of them!
I will share a silly little story about what I used to do for fun while living in a tiny town in southwestern Az. I was probably around nine or ten years old. We were a farming family so going to town meant loading us up for the long five mile trip to Joyce’s General Store. The same store by the way that many years later I would meet my wife Vickie. Anyway, one day after school I noticed that these big ugly looking birds seemed to circle around and around slowly getting closer and closer to their prey. The prey of course was dead! The more I learned about these buzzards the more intrigued I became. Then one day it came to me. Maybe if I would lie down silently in the middle of the sandy desert they would think I was dead. Maybe, just maybe they would come close enough for me to get a good look at them. Well one thing led to another.
One day I decided that in order to be more convincing I should be in a very unnatural position. A very post life looking position. Okay, I was a young stupid kid. It worked well. Not because of the positioning of my body, but because of the planning and patience I had put into this project. One would land maybe twenty yards away. Then another would venture closer. Suddenly I would jump up yelling and screaming! I can still feel the delight in watching those huge birds run away and then take flight. But just like a moth to a flame twenty feet became ten feet, then five. One day I decided I would wait until they pecked at my feet. The plan worked well except they were less interested in my Keds and more interested in my John Deere cap. How was I to know that one big bird had made an end run for the leaping Deere! Suddenly I felt the peck, peck, peck, at my head. Jumping up I was always astounded at just how close I was able to make them come. I kept thinking “be brave Darryl, be brave Darryl, now jump up and yell! Oh my goodness, the whole bunch of maybe fifteen or twenty would fly away screeching, as they would fly straight up. They fell for it every time! My excitement was hard to contain. In just a few short years, this would no longer pass for much needed excitement. But, that is another story for another day.
Now, when I sit outside on my patio and look straight east I can see the landing area for a hawk that I have named Humphrey. Yep, Humphrey the Hawk. Has a nice ring to it. Our house happens to be right in the middle of Humphrey’s hunting area. I watch him as he spreads those long graceful wings and puts air under them. He is so graceful as he catches the warm air currents and then suddenly dives straight down on some unsuspecting critter. Sometimes I do feel sorry for the target, but it is the whole circle of life thing I suppose. Sometimes he flies over our home when the sun is just right. The shadow he creates could be mistaken for a small plane. He glides, circles, climbs and dives with so little effort. It is beautiful to watch.
Then of course, there are what I call our welfare birds. They come to eat the food I put out for them without any thought about where it might come from. The White Winged Dove will not eat with the Mourning Dove. The Finch will not eat with the Cactus Wren. And so on and so on. It is amazing to watch the dynamics of all this beautiful nature going on all around us. All of this happens everyday whether we see it or not. Ms. Nature really does not care. They are doing their own thing out of necessity. All pretty much fend for their own survival. Well, except for the welfare birdies. I have learned so much about nature and the animals and plants living in it. To me they seem to be living in perfect balanced harmony.
My point here is that when someone asks me what there is to do, what they are really saying: “Is there somewhere we can go where we can pay someone to entertain us and make us happy”. These people mean no disrespect or harm. They are just like many of us may have been when we first came here. We had lost touch with the beauty of simply being who we really are. Some may have lost the ability to enjoy and identify with nature in its simplest and most basic form. It is a symbiotic relationship that one has to cultivate. There is a difference between being alone and being lonely. Many individuals can be in a room full of people and still feel the loneliness surrounding them. Others are blessed with a gift. The gift of being alone surrounded by nature while enjoying their own company. I think I was born with this ability but somehow lost it in my quest for success and happiness as described in my old world. It was a season of my life where this mentality was expected and did serve me well. Now however, I find myself in a new simpler slower season. I must say I have warmed up to it quite nicely. I enjoy simple!
Now when I go to the old country I find myself sometimes feeling overwhelmed by the energies of a huge mall, a Super Walmart or bumper to bumper traffic. I don’t miss that part of my old life. Wicks and candles were intended to shed light in a dark room, not to light up your inner being. Your soul.
By paying someone else to take on that responsibility, we are giving part of our God given blessings away to someone that cares not about us as long as they get their fees paid in full.
Yes, it is wonderful to go share time with your family at Disneyland or other entertainment venues. I love it! I love to see the expressions on little faces when their favorite character comes into view. But there is also something pretty special about your ten year old grandchild telling you that the favorite part of their whole vacation was a nature walk to learn about cacti. Or simply feeding the birds. Long after the memories of that ride they love so much at their favorite amusement park is forgotten, the simple experience of feeding the birds will remain a permanent part of their being. It will become part of our legacy. And in turn theirs as well. Let that special time spent together with loved ones light up your world. Let that be your gift to your loved ones from Our Little Village.
They will never forget the time spent with you in Our Special Little Village by the Sea.