In search of Georgia..continued

While Taos didn't call my name

Santa Fe and New Mexico

seem to be yelling it...

Years ago in California

while being twenty something,

a red haired vixen of a women,

gave me a job, in a frame shop.

I knew little about art outside

of Minnesotas' wildlife stamps

and had to become slowly educated as

the posters passed by me, in their

various forms of framing options...

Many of which were large flowers

with capital O'Keefe at the bottom.

I didn't get her or her work

never thought of her much after that

...really!

But the red haired women?

She became a friend for life...

and lives in Santa Fe!

After Taos it seemed appropriate

to go to visit the Georgia O'Keefe museum

in Santa Fe,

my traveling companion Ed

(a long time fan) is excited...

while I am quietly ambivalent.

There are quotes all over the walls,

her writings, are what

finally, truly

move me,

she speaks of her work, her life, her art

and I am drawn in...

a window onto this wondrous woman

is opened...

and I see her for who she was!

But the "museum movie"

leaves us feeling flat

I say again and again

"she had to be more interesting than that

she JUST had to be!"

It seems she was!

It is sunset

on my friends' patio,

Alicia, who is as spicy and feisty

as her hair color,

gives me a sense of "family

and sisterhood"

that only a "multiple decade friendship"

can do,

you know,

the one and only person

who knows you better than anyone,

who can jibe, poke and make fun

of the things no one else can

get away with...

(like the graying hair your not really

trying to hide but

hope... no one mentions either?)

We agree, that we have been at

one another's shoulders

for all the big moments in life,

first job,

first house,

first fire,

first mouse...

(don't ask!)

Thanks to Ed our exchange

and charm and adoration

is captured shot by shot!

And is a gift!

Also, gratefully and perfectly,

she has the Georgia O' Keefe

Lifetime movie

recorded

and we wonder and murmur over it's

supreme storytelling,

(while running down the hall

to write down various lines!)

This artistic woman of strength

and iconic character

becomes my hero, my muse

my guide,

in a matter of three days!!

It started with a symbolic trip to Taos

and Mabel Dodge Luhan's lodge,

a note in a tree,

a question where to go and be,

Georgia everything...

and the spirits of significant friends.

Am I am being

led to make a change?

...I am listening...

waiting ...wondering!

Funny, I didn't even know

I was looking for Georgia,

yet there she is at every turn

this woman who not only painted

the New Mexico sky...

she actually, became it!

So I am thinking,

what are we without

our hero's and friend's?

And when they call our names

isn't it true...

our only answer can be

"Yes,

I am on my way!"

Pam Reinke