Putting the Pieces Together

Piece #1



This card arrived in the mail yesterday. It was actually a "work" Christmas card. I send thousands of these, but you never know what someone needs to see. All I know is that I opened the envelope and was nearly giddy. I have an intense fascination with the desert. There is something distinctly compelling about the desert to me. At times in my life, it was a symbol of isolation. I obsessed with dreams of walking through the desert alone. The dreams occurred night after night for months on end for years of my life. I struggled with meaning until one night, in my dream, I reached the end of the desert into a garden.

Deserts are beautiful to me. I don't see barren. I see life in the midst of seemingly unbearable conditions. What could be more beautiful than that? Such is the story of the human soul--life in the midst of a veritable wasteland of physical pain, mental suffering.

Christmas in the desert is my life story. It's the ultimate symbol of life and joy in something that I have such an intense fascination with.


Piece #2

Walking a Dream of Desolation

This morning I received this story on my Twitter feed. Gila has a special significance to me (in Piece #3) and I was overjoyed to read this as I have a plan of heading back to New Mexico in the spring. I looked up the Gila national park and found that there are lush forests along with the caves. It is something that I know inside of me. Intense beauty.

Piece #3

The Los Lobos are performing at the House of Blues tonight. For a variety of reasons, I am not there. Instead, I have The Town & The City playing tonight. I forgot about "The Road to Gila Bend."

Made Nogales over night
through the desert in yellow light
missing everything I left behind
Will they see me coming ?
Do they know I'm running?

Gila Bend is one of the saddest songs on this album and one of my favorites. A twisted tale of the need to work to live and the desire to be ALIVE in this world The Town & The City is one of the most compelling stories of the human condition in this modern world. An intricate story of life and love and cities and deserts and people and responsibility and struggle, it speaks so eloquently to following your dreams.

Piece #4

On the Feast Day of Our Lady, I think back to the semi-novena I have prayed over the past two weeks. Even though my disconnect with public celebrations was very apparent, this was an especially meaningful day for me.It is particularly compelling because the roses appeared in a desolate place.



This is my desert dream. Welcome.