The Retired Corporate Slave

It was a meal thrown together a few days before Thanksgiving, but it turned out to be one of best dinners of my life. Just the basics with one dessert along with good liquor.  Only four people, which allowed for hours of conversations covering intimate events in our lives.  The bond between us was strengthened.  I feel these people will be in my life until I die.

Two weeks before my trip to Missouri I spent six wonderful days in Santa Fe.  Mister D hosted a cocktail party on the Sunday I arrived.  All the usual suspects were there.  It was a very festive evening.  Natalia’s husband was trashed and had to be escorted home next door. 

Early fall is one of my favorite times in Santa Fe.  The light is simply glorious.  I don’t know how to describe it.  You must see it to believe it.  Artists who have experienced the fall light in Santa Fe can relate to this.

D and I had lunch and dinner out almost every day.  Lunch with Cindi and the Girls at the Tea House on Canyon Road one day after touring the galleries.  A most leisurely lunch was enjoined in Taos with Cindi and our mutual friend, Mark, on another day.

D and I spent one morning on a docent lead tour of the newly opened Vladem Contemporary Art Museum in the Railyard District.  After the tour, we hung out and talked with the docent for another hour.  After the museum we had a long and most enjoyable lunch with Natalia at La Choza.  After a few margaritas, Natalia opened up about her years in Los Angeles when she lived in Laurel Canyon and managed Ed Ruscha’s studio.  She hung out with the artists and musicians who lived in Laurel Canyon at the time.  Natalia reminisced about having her art featured in a Whitney Biennial and having works acquired by the museum.  Sadly, she feels her art career peaked in her 20’s.  The final round of margaritas was ordered after that statement.

One afternoon Cindi, D and I drove to El Santuario de Chimayó, commonly known as the church with the holy dirt.  On the drive up we passed Embudo Station where years ago I spent one of the most memorable afternoons of my life.  I was with Cindi and the ex that day.  I think fondly about that day every time I pass Embudo Station. 

It was off-season in Chimayó so there were very few tourists and pilgrims milling about.  Cindi lit a few candles before dragging me into the gift shop to peruse the various religious paraphernalia and assorted red chili mixes offered for sale.  After church, we had a delicious dinner at Rancho de Chimayó.  The drive home offered views of an iconic sunset so common in the region.

On my last night in Santa Fe, I had drinks and dinner with Madame and D at Horno.  It was another wonderful evening of good cocktails, delicious food and interesting conversation.  The Heiress was too tired to join us as she had been meeting with lawyers and financial advisors in the afternoon.  The Heiress and her sister have assumed control over her mother’s affairs and the various trusts because of her mother’s rapid descent into the hell of Alzheimer’s.  It’s all too tiring for the Heiress.  She has never had to work.  Dealing with lawyers, accountants, bankers and financial advisors needed to manage a vast fortune is the first time she ever had to do anything remotely similar to work.  It just zaps all the energy out of her.  It was so much easier to simply wait for a monthly check.  The rest of us really don’t relate to her situation.  All of us have worked most of our lives.  The Heiress has had fifty-nine years of freedom.  A few meetings every month will not do her in.

My craving for green chili and good margaritas had been satisfied.  Thanksgiving discussions have begun.  Madame is offering to host at her secluded house nestled among pinyon pines in the desert.  I may find myself back in the land of enchantment in a few weeks.

Many times, over the years, I have often wondered what happened to bloggers when they stopped posting, or when blogs were deleted without a goodbye.  Did they die in a tragic accident?  Did they find a new love which consumed all their time leaving no room in their life to write?  Did they go to prison for crimes not written about.  Or did their life circumstances change which no longer made blogging a priority?

I fall into the last category.  When I worked, I attended numerous conference calls every business day.  Most of the time I only had to attend to be kept in the loop on various product changes.  Other times, the egos of senior executives mandated all employees attend calls where they could extoll the virtues of their vision and mission.  These calls enabled me to write a post while listening to corporate babble.

Since I retired, I no longer sit in front of a laptop for eight hours a day.  I only spend a small fraction of my day using my computer.  Instead, I’m enjoying life.  I redesigned my garden.  I tore up a large part of my lawn replacing it with mulch beds and drought tolerant plants.  Oddly, my area is experiencing the wettest year in decades.  I spend time with friends.  Sunday afternoon day drinking with the guys at a neighborhood bar has become a ritual.  Dinner out usually follows the drinking.  House guests have come and gone.  Hiking in the high country and urban walks with friends have become a regular activity.  Friday nights are still devoted to gallery tours while the occasional Thursday night is spent at art museum openings.  I haven’t taken any major trips but have spent time in Santa Fe.

I’ve also been reading a lot.  After I retired, I reread all of Armistead Maupin’s books.  I borrowed books from my neighbor’s expansive library along with checking out books from the public library.  JP gave me a stack of art books from his late husband’s collection.  I finally read Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”, which was banned by my Catholic high school, and not required reading in any of my college courses.  I read books by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg (a friend of the heiress’ mother), Henry Miller, Amy Tan and Charles Bukowski.  I’m currently reading “The Year of Magical Thinking”, by Joan Didion.

Writing a blog post has not been a priority. 

My life hasn’t changed much.  I don’t have a love interest.  I’ve given up on dating.  While I still have a few online profiles, I seldom log on to the sites.  It seems I’ve lost the spirit for the hunt.  I may meet a guy along the way but I’m not actively looking.

I’ll probably post occasional updates.  I’ll write a final post if I decide to euthanize this blog.  Unless, of course, I die suddenly.