Return to a slightly more nuanced post

I love to watch Chris eat when he is hungry. In some strange way it makes me feel at peace, like I am making up for all the times when I am grumpy and inconsolable and take it out on him. Yesterday I took him to lunch at this tiny hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant called Dona Maria (pronounced Donya Maria I don't know how to put the squiggly t hing over the "n") that's run by a real Mexican family that makes their own tortilla chips and salsa. Chris ordered a burrito with shredded beef that tasted good. This place is one of the good things about Farmington.

Recently, my contempt and distaste for Farmington seems to have rubbed off on Chris who said he noticed the people here ARE rude and look at him funny because he doesn't comb his hair. He said when he was at the Home Despot (as he calls it) the other day he saw an employee that looked like a high schooler and he was tempted to tell her, "As soon as you graduate just get in the car and get the hell out of this town. Don't even bother to take off your cap and gown."

Now that spring is slowly making its way here, I'm beginning to see that Farmington itself isn't ugly. It has trees and streams and a lake. The trees are Japanese plum trees, similar to cherry blossom trees, and add a splash of pink to the streets. If you lean in close and smell, there's a faint hint of ume and that reminds me of home.

On the other hand, I'm still grossed out by the people here. By the way they seem so narrow-minded almost fundamentalist in their thinking, by the way such a large number of them seem to get trashed after work and end up driving around and starting fights, by the not-so-under-the-surface racism towards Native Americans. I guess I notice all of this because I'm new to the place. I can only imagine how much I didn't notice in Hawaii, how much I picked up just by being, and it was effortless.