I first learned this when I was bicycle touring. I’d be riding along and it would be raining, and I’d be by myself, lonely and cold, thinking that this was the way it was going to remain for the next thousand miles or so. Then shortly thereafter, the sun would come out, and I’d meet up with other cyclists, and I’d no longer be lonely.

I remembered this and came to rely on it.

Last night there was another instance of this. I was standing in the basement of the woman who had invited Pete and I over for Thanksgiving dinner, and there, huddled around the bar/table, were close to a dozen people.

Alys at Mexican border after riding the Continental Divide Trail

No one greeted us – it was like we weren’t even there. Then Hally, our friend appears and she takes me down to see her new chicken coop. For a moment I felt befriended. And once back inside, I did manage to strike up a few conversations with a few people over the course of the evening. Change was slow, but it did happen.

Then there was today. I got to the hotel, and no one was there. Not a soul. I began working. I didn’t mind working alone because quite often a great deal gets done this way. It was odd because this was the first day in which no one was around.

That is until 3:00 p.m. when Cathy, the artist in residence, appeared and resumed working on the Christmas tree. This was even though the Palmer Chamber of Commerce decided not to judge the three entries this year and instead decided to split the pot. I talked to one of the chamber people and she said this is the way it was going to be.

Cathy, like I, was disappointed. But she finished the tree. As she was working, Kim Evans, who works at Swanson Elementary, appeared with two boxes of children’s books. Kim is always in a hurry, always inching her way towards the door, and this time was no exception. As always, she was encouraging in her remarks about the project.

Then Pete appeared and went and got more lights from Bishop’s attic and finished off the tree.

Lastly, a woman appeared as I was finishing up in the literacy annex – her name was Annette Lotha and she said she was needing large picture books for the school where she teaches in Nagaland, India. The bin containing these books was right under the table where I was sitting. I pulled it forth and she picked out the books she wanted.

So we have books going to India. How cool is this?

So what I am getting at here through my use of examples is that things can be going one way, and they can, in the blink of an eye, change. Sometimes the change isn’t good, or enough, but there is change.

If things stayed the same, life indeed would be very boring. It would be like eating oatmeal for breakfast every morning. So I say, embrace rather than fear change.

Next: 320. 11/29/25: Decisions, decisions