Staying Alive: A Cousins' Reunion

Glass art by Dale Chihuly at the Spencer Theater near Ruidoso

While in Santa Fe, I abandoned David for a day and took a quick trip back to Ruidoso to spend a fun weekend with my cousins.  Sisters, Diana, Jeanie and Carolann are really my third cousins but since our moms are very close first cousins, we saw each other often growing up.  I was the only granddaughter on my mom’s side of the family and so I always thought of the sisters as my first cousins.  Carolann and I have reconnected over the past several years, but I hadn’t seen Diana and Jeanie since my wedding -- almost 40 years ago!  A reunion was long overdue…

Jeanie, Carolann and their mom, Una Vee all live in New Mexico but Diana has been living in California for many years.  Una Vee planned this fun weekend with her girls in Ruidoso and when I heard about it and knew I was going to be so close, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them all together after so many years.  They graciously allowed me to crash their girl’s weekend.

Me, and cousins Jeanie, Diana, Una Vee and Carolann

We all had tickets to the Spencer Theater, located just outside Ruidoso, to see a Bee Gees tribute band.  The Spencer is a lovely, modern building that somewhat reflects the shape of the mountains that surround it.  Inside there are many windows to capture the mountain views and several pieces of glass art by Dale Chihuly add splashes of color to the walls and main spaces.  The theater itself is intimate, not really any bad seats in the house and nice acoustics – a very fine venue.

A green chili lasagna dinner was served before the concert and we had time to visit and tour the Spencer and enjoy the art.  It was so fun catching up on everyone’s lives.  Diana is a grandmother four times now and Jeanie will be blessed with her first grandchild in September.  After dinner and all that talking, we were full and happy and ready to boogie…

The band did not let us down.  They did the Bee Gees very well and had us dancing in the aisles.  We had great seats on the first, second and third rows near the aisle, so that facilitated our dancing.  The whole crowd was our age or even older so everyone was having a blast.  No photos were allowed inside the theater or you would see us all dancing.

There was talk of going out to the Casino or doing some more partying after the concert, but I think the dancing wore us out and we were all in bed by midnight.  I don't want to admit it, but maybe our Disco years are over and maybe that is not all together a bad thing. The next morning, we met at The Cornerstone Bakery for a great breakfast before everyone had to head back.  Maybe we won’t do this every year, but I know for sure it won’t be 40 years before it happens again.  After all, we won’t be able to dance if we wait that long…

A few more photos from Meow Wolf

The Magical Mastodon Cave

David plays the Goldberg Variations on the mastodon's rib cage