b y j u d y e r o n

This time of year , Charlie and I usually reside at our paradise on Terlingua Ranch . By October , the intensity of the desert heat has subsided , the ocotillos hide their thorns beneath new leaves , and the hills are richly green from the summer rains . Just writing this draws me there . It ’ s a perfect time to return . We are fortunate to spend our summers on the coast of Washington state rather than in the Chihuahuan Desert . And we are equally fortunate to return to the desert when the northwest turns miserable – cold and rainy , sunless for days on end , with little chance to do much outdoors . It ’ s a job to pack things up and face the 2,300-mile drive , but sunny Texas is our true home .

Yet this year we sit in Washington , waiting for some moments between raindrops to take a walk . For now , we ’ re grounded because I had open heart surgery in late September .

In the Fall 2023 issue of Cenizo , I wrote about how health concerns had led many of our desert friends to wonder whether they could continue to live as remotely as we all do now . Such concerns have already scared some into selling their homes and thus into surrendering their piece of paradise . Is it time to leave when you can no longer hike ? Is it time for me to be part of the desert exodus ? After all , open heart surgery is nothing to sneeze at – and sneezing still hurts !

As I wrote that article , some of the health concerns I had been happy to backburn were becoming more difficult to ignore . That a doctor recommended I live closer to medical services during the winter months sure didn ’ t fit with our usual seasonal rhythm ; I was set on migrating to the desert for the winter . I figured I would get whatever surgery I needed when we returned to the northwest in early spring .

For years , I ’ ve had problems in my heart , which I attended to with exams and updates in the northwest . And every year , the exams and updates would conveniently correspond to our living close to healthcare . I was told these problems would eventually need to be solved , but eventually is later , and so long as that was the case , I wasn ’ t going to let a doctor ’ s note dictate our life .

But Charlie was worried , and he pushed me to get a second opinion . My new surgeon , like the first , discouraged us from going to the desert . With some pretty strong arguments and graphic drawings , he persuaded me to have the surgery now and return to Texas later . It seemed a preposterous idea ; not in 30 years had we spent a winter outside our magnificent desert .

Even so , into the hospital I went for what I was told would be a week but ended up being three . I left with what seemed to be a showroom of medical equipment . My surgeon explained that the problem was more extensive than he had initially thought , and that if I had indeed gone to Terlingua I might not have come back alive . Gulp . But now he has urged us to return to Texas in a month or two , convinced that medical isolation is no longer a concern because my problem has been fixed . That puts us in Terlingua in February – just as the cactus start to bloom . What a welcome home that will be .

Living on our terms requires all sorts of compromises . We make detailed lists of what we need in town because town is hours away . We take 30 minutes to drive five miles to see neighbors because the topography demands it . We make choices , and we live with the consequences so that we can be where we can see forever , where the star-filled night sky can leave you breathless .

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