During the two years my ex and I were there, I fell in love with all the beauty around Gallup. Canyon de Chelly in eastern Arizona, the mountains about an hour from where we lived, Mesa Verde in southern Colorado, Santa Fe, about 2 hours away and Albuquerque was always good for shopping and eating.

My ex hated Gallup and made fun of all the “Junk Indian Jewelry” that I bought that is now worth many more dollars than what I paid for it. I discovered from my grandmother that I am descended from the Cherokee and Choctaw nations. I am still trying to find my cheekbones!

I volunteered at the Navajo Orphanage that was sponsored by my church. I spent two Halloweens being a fortune teller and palm reader – nothing I actually know anything about but the kids loved it and begged me to come back the next year.

Gallup at that time was interesting if you took the time to look. The town had more bars per capita than any place else on earth. Saturday was the day to walk the two blocks from my house and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Navajo Nation literally in my front yard. The colorful clothes and the beautiful jewelry were inspiring to me. Every year the population swelled when thousands of Navajo came to town for their yearly celebration. I learned about the Navajo people, the differences in the puebla dwellers, and how most of them are able to balance modern day employment and their own traditions.

I have been through Gallup a few times in recent years and of course now there are malls and Super WalMarts and Route 66 is no longer the main drag – an Interstate divides the town.

I personally love the desert – to me everything that is there was hand picked and placed in order to make a beautiful picture.

Sedona is my favorite high desert and I look forward to seeing it again in April when I attend the conference.

Jimmie Berg
Akron, Co – the real middle of nowhere!!!

Thanks again for all your good ideas. And, by the way, I’m still referring to Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules.” Just love them and they, like feng shui, boil down to the essence of simplicity and workability in living one’s life. Hooray again!

You have a lot of good ideas! In my 50 plus years here I’ve kinda been there and done all that. I have had an Etsy shop for 5 years (business has been very slow the last 6 months or so). I have my college degrees and twice the community college units I needed to get my first degree. I went to the local JC for 12 years! I’m a life long student. I just never finished my masters degree, which limits teaching to high school and elementary. I probably don’t have to mention how many teachers have been laid off in the last year, so there is a surplus of unemployed teachers, even subs!

Barbara Sher’s was one of the first books I bought years ago, and I have all the licensing and business sites linked and I have a blog etc etc . I even have art in a gallery in Pasadena. But the recession is killing artists here. And yes, I am 56 yrs old so I have at one time belonged to all the art clubs etc out here and took lessons and gave them. It’s all different now that I am retired and older and ill. I have really, like I said, mined this place for all it’s worth. Some people would say never stop trying but come on, like some relationships, once it’s over it’s over right? I just want out.

So, ok, enough woe is me. I really feel like you understand and that helps so much. You really have to have been there to understand.

“You feel trapped and unable to escape and most people are just barely hanging on so they’re demoralized too. The only escape from it is to get out!” Totally true here.

“Also, take what your husband says about the “what ifs” with a grain of salt. He’s doing what he loves so he’s already being nourished. He’s probably going to have trouble seeing things from your perspective, which means you’ll probably have to find the support elsewhere.”

You hit it right on! I think this has been the greatest source of displeasure for me here – his not “getting it” and I think if he keeps not getting it, I will have to make changes on my own.

By the way, I take it you did get “out of the desert” ? Good for you.