It’s about as official as the Duskes can ever predict such a thing: we are more than likely going to settle in as permanent Yuma residents, better known as Yumans.
With the development and growth of my service helping seniors and my great enjoyment in doing so, I feel myself more and more reluctant to consider anything beyond Yuma. Yes, it could still be necessary for Marc to leave for a steady job, but it would take a great deal to get me out of here.
Yuma came to be by default. We hung on a little too long to a lot we intended to develop and flip for a good profit—we got torn away from it many winters and couldn’t complete the improvements in a timely fashion and then the market simply drained away. Having no great impetus to sell, why would we now at a loss? Besides, Marc spent thousands of dollars and four back and forth trips getting much of our stored goods from Bend moved here, all at tremendous effort. For better or worse, this is home, baby.
Is it just me or does aging make contemplating change more difficult? Suddenly the temptation of far-off exploration and grass is greener syndrome just doesn’t seem to hold water for me. Maybe being the consummate wanderer, I have finally seen enough. For once in my life, I am trying to appreciate the nuances of remaining static; trying to build the ties that bind one to a community in blissful contentment. I know others have done it; why has it always eluded me?
The searing heat of our desert summer doesn’t make this an easy task but perhaps it will be an enduring one. Where else do we have to go; where else do we have to be? Am I at last finding the meaning of “home”? Frankly, I’m tired of moving, tired of the transience, tired of all the money spent and frittered away that we now so desperately could use. I want to watch my plants grow, I want to see my business grow and I want to remain on my own piece of desert dirt. There’s no doubt about it; Yuma’s climate is hell on earth for about three months out of the year. But its climate is also heaven on earth for at least six months of the year. That’s more than an equitable trade I would say.
