It's Official

Before I left tonight, Ben's last words to me were: "Don't drink the koolaid."

When I walked back into our house after my event, my first words to Ben were: "My head is science but my heart is hippie."   And Ben said: "You drank the koolaid."

You can officially say you are a member of something when you wear their button...just sayin'....

Tonight I attended my first Brady Campaign meeting in the village of Corrales.  The village of Corrales is a magical place.  As soon as you enter it, you feel like you are not in New Mexico anymore (...magic in itself).  Everyone lives on several acres of land with donkeys and chickens roaming their yards, rows of backyard grapevines, and giant cottonwoods protecting the lush green yards (yes, you heard me right, GREEN-- Corrales is right on the river, and it doesn't even resemble the desert a little bit).  In my perfect world, I would live on acres of land with a white duck named Ferdinand and goats and a pond with water lilies... I was meant to live in Corrales (if Corrales were anywhere other than New Mexico...).

I had come to the event thinking it was exclusively for those interested in the Brady Campaign, but there were two others groups there too: the Corrales Art Center and the Animal Rescue Initiative.  You can imagine how my heart started to grow ten sizes....

By the time I left I had signed Ben and I up for the volunteer list at the animal rescue, been asked to march in the 4th of July parade with Asher and Benji on behalf of the arts center, and volunteered to teach fine arts to elementary students at Corrales public schools.  All the while talking with the director of library science for UNM, a couple whose daughter is a graphic designer who now works for SLAC National Accelerator Lab, and a gentleman that worked for the CDC for 40 years before retiring to Corrales.

An evening of white wine and olives while talking about bioterror preparation, Oppenheimer, no kill shelters, the importance of art for kids, and gun control = heaven.  I was in heaven.