Unicorn

 Yesterday I drove home from a beautiful day in Luckenbach.  For those of you who have not been,  Luckenbach is a cool place in the Hill Country of Texas where one can sit and listen to great music , have a beer and meet all kinds of interesting folks.  It was a perfect weather day.  People were kind and listened peacefully to the music. It felt a bit like church.  Church with beer and puppies.   The gospel was delivered by song, the congregation was diverse, fun and colorful.  It was All Saints Day and it felt like it.  I did not know who was going to vote for whom and I did not see any friction either way.  What I saw was love.  Love and more love.  People buying beverages for each other.  Kids running up and down the hills and climbing trees.  There was no argument when one had to put on a mask to order drinks.  People minded each other's space.   A few even sat away from the crowd, quietly yet proactively minding their own health.   

We live about an hour and a half drive from Luckenbach.  My husband has played the first Sunday of the month (March-Nov) for 10 years now.   We have spent a lot of time witnessing the magic of this place.  We know that every place has its quirks, drama and troubles... but yesterday felt immune to it all.   It's always a tough place to leave, because you know eventually you have to jump back into real life.  

I left a little early in the set because 1:  I knew if I stayed, I would be there until 8 and would have to dodge the deer all the way home.  And 2:  I had to get home to let our sweet dog out.   It was a nice drive home.  No deer and not too much Sunday traffic.  I listened to Brene' Brown's podcast most of the way, sprinkled in with new Bruce Springsteen and some vintage Aretha Franklin.  The sunset was particularly gorgeous.  I tried to take an artsy photo of the sky in my rear-view mirror (like you see on instagram)  but I thought I'd better keep my eyes on the windy road instead.  Plus it seems like each time I think I can wrangle the sky in a phone photo, it looks like I am trying to wrangle the sky in a phone photo.   With the time change, the colors of the sky were looking like a Bob Ross painting.  OH!  And then... the moon!!   Making her dramatic exit as the featured guest star on a Saturday night Halloween.  I could see her rise in the mirror and then to my right and then to my left and then to my right again.   (FM 1431 is a winding road).   She was lighting my way home.  

When I reach the town of Lago Vista, reality starts to sink in.  I will soon be making my way back to the rows and rows of homes, abundance of traffic and perhaps a palpable tension lingering in the air.   I pass through another small town and slowly creep up on my left hand turn into our neighborhood.  It's a nice neighborhood with good folks... but I wasn't ready to release my peaceful  blanket that I was wearing from my weekend in the Hill Country.   I pass by the QT gas station & the dog park.  I turn right into the fancy new neighborhood, next to our humble older neighborhood.  I  drive through the stately homes decorated for Halloween.   Feeling the calm slowly dissipate, I look to my right... and I see a 6 foot unicorn walking down one of the streets.   I did a double take, like you see on a cartoon.  I said out loud to myself..  "I think that was a 6 foot Unicorn" ...   Thinking maybe I was hallucinating, I drove around the block just to be sure.   Sure enough.  Someone just decided to put on a unicorn costume and take a walk around the fancy block. (or maybe they never took it off from the night before)   I loved it.  It helped ease my anxiety about the week ahead and reminded me to try to stay light in spite of it all.   One degree cooler would have been the unicorn smoking a cigar.  

I might mosey into town today and buy a 1/2 price-post Halloween- unicorn costume to keep on hand for the remaining months of 2020.  When you feel the familiar squeeze of these unpredictable days, look for the 5'5 flash of white and sparkly rainbow down one of your streets.